The Green Party intends to use the trebling of its Dáil seats as a firm foundation for the future, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
The four newly-elected Green Party TDs may not like wearing ties, but they are emphatically not hippy-dippy members of the muesli-and-sandals brigade.
They are bright, energetic, relatively young, extremely articulate and also very determined to provide strong opposition in the Dáil.
Unlike the Labour Party, which rested on its laurels after the "Spring tide" of 1992, the Greens intend to build on their new strength in Leinster House to create a truly national party, with an eye to the next general election, "embedding ourselves in Irish democracy", as Mr Eamonn Ryan TD put it.
Mr Ryan (38), who was elected in Dublin South at the expense of Cllr Eithne FitzGerald (Labour), said the Green Party's trebling of its Dáil representation "couldn't have come at a better time" - not long after it had abandoned a "chaotic structure" in favour of organising the party along more professional lines.
"It's really good for our long-term development as a political force," he said. "Not only does it give us a parliamentary party that will inevitably become the centre of our organisation, but it also provides us with funding to hire young researchers, people with a future as councillors or TDs."
He himself will be resigning his seat on Dublin City Council and he expects that Mr Ciarán Cuffe TD, newly-elected for Dún Laoghaire, will do likewise.
It is also likely that Mr Dan Boyle TD, elected in Cork South Central, and Mr Paul Gogarty TD (Dublin Mid-West), will give up their dual mandates.
Like other Green Party TDs, Mr Ryan is an avid cyclist - but in his case he turned it into a business, setting up Irish Cycling Safaris in 1991, as well as the Belfield bike shop at UCD. Founding chairman of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, he is now a member of the Dublin Transportation Office advisory committee.
In the 1999 elections for Dublin City Council, he topped the poll in the Rathmines ward. He is the Green Party spokesman on transport and tourism, but has also played a leading role in attempts to improve the domestic recycling system in Dublin and has a special interest in planning and housing issues.
At 41, Mr Boyle is the oldest of the four new TDs. First elected to Cork Corporation in 1991, he achieved the highest vote ever won by a Green Party candidate in the Cork South Central by-election of 1994, and was widely tipped to succeed on this occasion, defeating Fine Gael's Barry dynasty in the process.
As a councillor, he can point to such campaigning achievements as the closure of hospital incinerators, designating Cork city as a smoke-free zone, and the introduction of cycle-ways. A former vice-president of the National Youth Council, he is a member of the National Economic and Social Council.
Mr Cuffe (39) was also first elected in 1991 as a member of Dublin City Council. A native of Shankill, he studied architecture in UCD where he was a prominent activist in Students Against the Destruction of Dublin. He is a lecturer in urban planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology on Bolton Street.
Planning has been his forte politically, too. He made significant contributions to both the 1991 and 1999 Dublin City Development Plans on public transport, green space, playgrounds and architectural conservation issues. He successfully appealed against the controversial plans for Spencer Dock.
Mr Gogarty (33) is a relative newcomer to Green politics. A Lucan-based journalist, he was first elected to South Dublin County Council in 1999, topping the poll ahead of Labour candidate Cllr Joanna Tuffy, who also lost out to him in the general election. He is best known for his campaign to preserve the Liffey Valley.
He orchestrated a plebiscite in Lucan which played a major part in persuading South Dublin County Council not to rezone lands at St Edmundsbury for hous- ing. He was to the forefront in opposing the controversial Outer Ring Road and ensuring that the new town of Adamstown is developed sustainably.
The four new TDs join the party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent TD (41), who was first elected to the Dáil in 1992, and the party chairman, Mr John Gormley TD (42), who joined him in 1997. At the very least, their arrival will facilitate a sharing out of portfolios, enabling all six to establish significantly higher profiles.
Their next task will be to work with the two Green MEPs, Ms Nuala Ahern and Ms Patricia Mc- Kenna, to prepare for the European Parliament elections in 2004.