Green Party leadership pitches: social justice focus versus appeal to rural Ireland

Two settings give as good an indication as any of the battle lines that have been drawn in the Green Party leadership race.

Irish renters living in fear: ‘We can’t get mortgages, even though I’ve been paying rent for 12 years’David McWilliams: Aer Lingus pilots are the Donnybrook Fair battalion of an Aldi revolution O’Gorman sits in his office wearing his ministerial full metal jacket, a trim suit, light pink shirt and slim tie. Although aged just 41, he brings no shortage of experience.He was first elected 20 years ago, was a founder of the Young Greens and is a former chairman of the party. He has long believed the party’s values went wider than the environment.

Brought up in Ballindine Co Mayo, Hackett was a champion show jumper in her youth. The interest in horses extended into her academic life. She has a degree in agriculture and a PhD in equine biomechanics. Her decision to stand for the leader’s job was prompted by the election results, where the party lost half its council seats and its two MEPs.

The Greens in rural Ireland have become synonymous with culling the herd, ending the nitrate directive, carbon taxes, being anti-car and anti-farmer. She points to Green initiatives. The number of organic farms has increased from 1,600 to 5,000 . The carbon tax has been ring-fenced to fund an ambitious agri-environment scheme, retrofitting in the midlands and fuel allowance support for vulnerable groups. There has been a move away by farmers from fertiliser-heavy single species grass to multi-species swards.

“I am in a department where there are so many plates spinning and you are dealing with complex and controversial issues,” he says. “You ship criticism, some of it legitimate but some quite intensely personal as well. If you don’t toughen up, you don’t survive. My ability to push measures has definitely improved.”

“We have allowed ourselves to be pigeonholed in the area of climate and nature. We are not a single-issue party. We have never been a single-issue party.”

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