Noel Whelan: What’s not to like about the Green Party?

As political enemies go, the Green Party are a difficult one to oppose. They are the political equivalent of the boy or girl your parents would like to see you bring home.

They are pleasant, even when engaged in intense argument. Although they evolved from an ecology movement, they are not rowdy or robust street campaigners. They are even polite in protest – out to make a point, not trouble.

The other political advantage the Greens have is that what they stand for is clearly defined. Everyone is in favour of the Green Party’s central objective of saving the planet and protecting bio-diversity. The basic tenets of the Green Party manifesto are now central to school curriculums at primary and secondary level. They have a fine active flow of “pester power”.

Our centre-right parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have much to be happy about now that the ballots cast last Friday are counted

Climate change is a key cross-generational issue and there is plenty anecdotal evidence of parents and grandparents being reminded again and again by younger family members in the days before the election that “we need to save the planet.”

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Like all small parties, the Greens have meagre budget for posters or media. Unlike other small parties, however, the Green message itself gets massive collateral coverage. Primetime TV and radio ads from Repak remind us all to be part of Team Green while wider media coverage, even during polling week, was of national student climate protests.

The underlying issues which define Green Party policy are detailed in stunning programmes made and voiced by the greatest documentary maker of all, David Attenborough. It’s hard to fight against that.

Authenticity

The other appealing feature of Green politicians is their authenticity. They are truly committed to their ideal. They are a policy movement and take pride, rather than resent it, when other parties steal their policy clothing. Their objective is for the policies they espouse to be implemented.

They are, in the main, down-to-earth, decent politicians who are interested in achieving their objective in office yet genuinely have no interest in the trappings of power.

Our centre-right parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have much to be happy about now that the ballots cast last Friday are counted. They each improved their vote and seat shares in the local elections – Fianna Fáil more so than Fine Gael – and both appear to have at least held their own in the European elections. In addition the two parties will be very happy to see Sinn Féin lose almost half of its seats on local councils.

Sinn Féin has sought to define itself in the Republic as an anti-austerity party. That is no longer working

It is striking that we have just had a mid-term election in which neither the main party of government, Fine Gael, nor the party keeping them in power through a confidence-and-supply agreement, Fianna Fáil, has taken a hit. One is reminded of the old Charlie McCreevy line after the 2002 election about voters deciding “to change the opposition rather than the government”.

That change in the opposition, at least in terms of seats, has in the main been from Sinn Féin and other far-left entities to the more moderate Green Party, the Social Democrats, and a slowly recovering Labour Party. At municipal area council meetings and county council meetings and pre-meetings taking place this week, councillors will tell you the atmosphere will be more pleasant and productive now that Sinn Féin’s usually noisy cough has been softened.

Enhanced numbers

Not only will the Greens, Social Democrats and Labour be easier to deal with in council chambers, but they will also be easier to engage with after the next general election where, if they get enhanced numbers, they could be crucial in shaping the next government.

It is important to remember that the context for the local elections in 2014 was significantly different from that which prevailed last week. In May 2014 Ireland was taking its first tentative steps out of recession. Growth in employment had only just re-started.

Most of those who were unemployed at the time the new government came to power in 2011 were still unemployed at the time of the election in 2014. The key difference is that while they were short-term unemployed in 2011, they were long-term unemployed in 2014.

At that time voters had an emerging sense of getting some air to breathe in their household finances but this was being sucked away by talk of the introduction of water charges, the precise rate for which had not yet been determined. There were also a number of other issues antagonising voters, not least the insensitively conducted review into entitlement to medical cards.

As it happened it was Labour, as the minor party in government, who suffered most from that backlash and it was Sinn Féin who were the biggest beneficiaries. For most of the last decade-and-a-half Sinn Féin has sought to define itself in the Republic as an anti-austerity party. That is no longer working. They will struggle to find a new workable positioning.