The Green Party has said it is not interested in a merger with the Labour Party after MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin floated the idea of the pair amalgamating.
The Labour politician proposed the union during an event organised by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) last Friday night.
Ó Ríordáin, who served as a minister of state in the 2011-2016 Fine Gael-Labour coalition, suggested the two parties should follow the example of their Dutch counterparts.
“Recently, the Dutch Labour Party and the Dutch Green Party have joined forces … and that’s what the Irish Labour Party and the Irish Green Party should do,” he said.
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However, Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman on Monday shot down the idea, saying his party’s distinct role was needed.
“The Green Party works really well with the Labour Party in the Dáil, the Seanad and on councils across the country. But a merger isn’t on the table,” said the Dublin West TD.
“At a time when the current Government is continually rolling back on its environmental and climate commitments, the distinct role the Green Party plays on keeping a focus on nature and the environment in Irish public discussion and political decision making is needed now more than ever.”
The Labour Party did not have an official response to a request for comment, but it is understood the party’s view is that Ó Ríordáin was giving a personal response to a Dutch senator who asked him about the possibility at the IIEA event.
A party source said the Green-Labour merger in the Netherlands was in the context of a different electoral system, adding that the process of coming together took many years. They added that parties can work closely at local and national level without merging and said Labour has always worked with like-minded representatives.
Earlier this year, the two Dutch left-wing parties formally combined into the new Progressief Nederland (PRO). The merger followed a disappointing 2021 election for the parties when they won only 17 of a possible 150 seats between them. The merger was supported by the overwhelming majority of each party’s membership at their party conferences last year.
Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik has previously said that a merger with the Social Democrats, the party’s main electoral rival, is “possible” as there were no ideological differences between the two. This has been rebuffed by Holly Cairns’s party, with the Social Democrats’ leader ruling out a merger.
