Can’t (Sore Point) do? The Green Party return. August 23, 2012
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.trackback
Apologies for that, but reading that the Green Party is off to Carnsore Point next week for a ‘festival and summer school’ organised by Dan Boyle the thought struck me that they are now arguably in worse shape than they were twelve months ago and that’s saying something. Granted they were reeling from the loss of their entire parliamentary party in the election earlier that year. This on top of the effective annihilation of their local representation across the state (they’ve done a bit better in the North retaining their MLA seat). When it came to choosing a new leader they went for Eamon Ryan, who although no longer an elected representative still appeared to have some potential as a candidate at future elections in Dublin South…
Well, the boundary revisions have effectively put paid to that ambition. If it was going to be a difficult ask for him to win in the constituency as was it now appears impossible with the loss of a seat. Moreover Shane Ross as an incumbent Independent can – perhaps – sweep up some of the uncommitted votes that might wend his way.
I think it is deeply problematic not to have at least one TD in the Dáil espousing a clear approach on climate change, but I cannot see how that situation will materially alter in the near or even medium term future. But the options available to the GP, as presently constituted, seem limited. Former strongholds might provide the possibility for future electoral success but that depends also on candidates who are willing to run (and take Dublin North, I can’t see Clare Daly going anywhere soon). The odd thing is, though, that if the GP were willing to lock into the broad social democratically inclined sentiment that powers numerous independent and SF TDs, particularly now in a context where the LP remains wedded to orthodoxy and SFs position is ambiguous, there might be the potential for them to enter the space between formerly social democratic left and the further left.
I can’t see it happening though. For that to work they’d have to fashion some form of class analysis that they currently simply don’t have and the lack of which has – to my mind – hobbled them from the off.
Still, if all else failed I guess they could follow this modest suggestion from a few years back (and please note the date on which it was posted).
It’s like the Return of the Living Dead on the front page here today, with the Green Party and the Labour left featuring prominently.
Any chance the greens had of tacking left was gone when they chose Ryan – he didn’t even seem to have the standard green suspicion of corporate values and economic growth as the be all and end all.
Needed more then ever with environment figuring a long, long way down the list with Hogan and Coveney. The proved to be our least sustainable party alas.
That’s an interesting thought.
rather than the Green Party forming a class analysis, the idea of which people seem to discount for various reasons here, shouldn’t the ULA or whoever form an environmental analysis? beyond just stating that it’s another manifestation of capitalism and ideally all resources would be shared equally, what can be done right now to promote the sustainable and equitable use of resources across the entire population?
the FG point is important because that is essentially a pro-business, enviro-sceptic party in favour, at least ideologically, of lessening state and government involvement in society and the economy. if there’s no effective Green Party, then surely it falls to the left to lead the challenge against that conservative orthodoxy (with a special interest in promoting public goods, of course).
I’m thinking currently of the calls for a reduction of fuel duty because of high prices. something that doubtless appeals to the low-tax brigade, although it is also a regressive tax – nevertheless it’s only cents on the litre, not a percentage take, so the government isn’t collecting any more revenue due to high pump prices (in fact probably a little less, if there’s a drop in consumption). anyway I get the idea that it hurts people in their daily life and work, particularly if they’re stuck out in cheap housing estates/commuter villages, but from an environment point of view the idea of artificially deflating the price of a scarce and polluting resource is pretty wrong. much better to use high prices to promote minimising its use, e.g. better public transport and local planning. and perhaps some way of relieving price pressures that is more targeted (fuel credits?) instead of encouraging overuse.
It’s like reading a clinical observation report on someone with a terminal condition.
Parties who lose their representation dramatically tend not to recover. Good examples would be CnaP and Workers’ Party, although in the latter the causes were entirely different. It’ll be interesting to see whether the party can gain seats locally, especially in places like Dublin South, which is the sort of vote they seem to be going after. Most off their former vote in these places decamped en masse to Fine Gael. Can’t see them being wooed back. Another thing is whether they can become transfer friendly again. Hard to know.
PS Forgot to add: getting rid of Dan Boyle at least would be a good start.
Has anyone read Boyle’s book?
“for that to work they’d have to fashion some form of class analysis”
The Gonzaga Greens did develop a class analysis, it was a class analysis that targeted the working class for austerity and vicious cuts. The Greens squandered their electoral good will, just as the issues of climate change, the environment and sustainability are becoming more urgent and potentially catastrophic. Perhaps some humility and grass roots activism might restore some support for the Greens, however I can’t imagine that the current leadership do humility and soul searching.
It’s a shame – in something like the community gardens people you see a fairly broad movement (if numerically not huge they are geographically and socially somewhat diverse) that doesn’t have a voice.
But yes, the grouplet that passes for a green party here has probably done serious damage to the cause of ecologically based politics for a good while, and will definitely be in the way of any progressive formation until they are finally put out of their misery.
Who went to gonzaga – was there many?
Cuffe and Ryan are Gonzaga boys.
Do the Greens follow an international line, I know little about this lot? In the UK they are placed left of Labour, and I know have worked with Respect. Caroline Lucas is a formidable MP.
Micheal Gallager (I think!) did an analysis of the Green voters about 8 years ago and showed that they were marginally to the left of the SF and the most left wing party in the State. However, this never translated into their economic polices. Mostly I think becase Dan Boyle seemed to have carte blanche to set economic policy – remember his comment about being close to FG on economic polices but to labour on social policies? I remember that being the most bizarre comment of the last election
It was based on the 2002 manifesto.
The study can be found here: http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/wordscores/papers/Ireland2002_4.pdf
I am not surprised that it scored as the most left-wing. I became a Green voter primarily based on the 2002 manifesto. How much things have changed. They were for a universal basic income at one stage.
I think there’s a chicken and egg thing there with the idea of Green voters being particularly left wing. I think that in 2002 and 2007 people of a left-wing persuasion became convinced that the Greens offered something to the left of Labour. There wasn’t a ULA to vote for and there was still a great deal of suspicion of SF and the Greens seemed to offer something new. I can think of several people I know who voted for the Greens on this basis and I must admit the thought even crossed my own mind. These voters were perhaps not deeply committed to Green ideals as much as relieved to find a new force on the Left they could vote for.
And I think that’s why the backlash against the Greens was so total and so vicious. People who were genuinely left wing in their beliefs felt that they’d been conned out of their vote when the Greens went into government with FF and proved so supine while they were there. I remember someone who’d voted for Dan Boyle telling me they had an urge to hit him when they saw him in the street one day. I suppose the closest analogy might be to someone who’d voted for Labour based on the 1969 Seventies Will Be Socialist manifesto and then saw them collude in the austerity measures of the 1973-77 government. And even then they got a wealth tax out of FG. The Greens didn’t get a thing out of FF. Their whole attitude in government was one, also familiar to Labour voters, of saying that now they were in power all bets were off and their electorate should ‘grow up’ and accept this. Gormley and Ryan seemed inordinately pleased to be allowed to play politics with the big boys.
Their subsequent whinging that the GP have suffered because FF slagged them off to rural voters because of their stance on planning is nonsense. Those voters wouldn’t have voted Green in a fit. It was the GPs collusion with NAMA and the bank guarantee which turned off those left wing voters who’d once held out such hope for the party.
I don’t think they’ll ever come back and I don’t think they deserve to. Boyle and Ryan’s view still seems to be that age old complaint of the deluded bully, ‘you know what the problem was with me? I was too nice.’
Dan Boyle – A Fianna Fail offspring turd in a suit.