Greens play down councillor’s resignation

THE Green Party is seeking to play down the resignation of one of its best-known councillors and strategists.

Cllr Chris O’Leary, a member of Cork City Council, resigned yesterday in protest at the party’s performance in government. Another councillor said she was considering her position.

Mr O’Leary accused the party leadership and TDs of forsaking their traditional values and beliefs, and said he would contest June’s local elections as an independent.

Cllr Bronwen Maher, a member of Dublin City Council, said she too was considering her position and announced she would hold a press conference this morning, leading to speculation that she would also resign.

Party chairman Senator Dan Boyle said he wasn’t surprised by Mr O’Leary’s decision, saying they would run a candidate against him in the elections because his was a Green seat.

“He made a statement after the budget saying he was seriously considering leaving the party and recently put out information leaflets without the party logo on them,” Mr Boyle said.

He claimed Mr O’Leary was “only comfortable in opposition” and that sometimes it was necessary for the Government to make unpopular decisions.

“But being in government is the only way we can get changes made,” Mr Boyle said.

Mr O’Leary’s resignation and Ms Maher’s comments, highlights the nervousness of some Green councillors as the elections loom.

“The Green Party leadership is aware that councillors and members are concerned and worried about the current difficulties the country faces,” a spokesman for party leader John Gormley said.

“We will continue to consult our members and councillors as we have done regularly since entering government in June 2007.”

Mr O’Leary, 49, who has been a member of the Greens since the late 1980s, had previously criticised the party’s hierarchy, especially after it rubber-stamped the FF-led budget in October.

He has accused the party of having a “stay in government at all costs” agenda.

The father-of-three said he regretted the move but was left with no other option, having failed to obtain assurances from the party that it would be willing to pursue a sea-change in government policy.

Ms Maher told Newstalk radio station she was reviewing her position because the Green parliamentary party (ie its TDs and senators) were “in massive denial”.

“There’s a lot of concern in the Green Party that we’re not achieving in government,” she said.

But deputy leader Mary White insisted that government was the right place for the party to be.

“The Green Party can most effectively implement its policies in government. And, as long as we are advancing our policies, we must stay the course.

“But, as my party leader John Gormley has said, we are not in government for the sake of being there, and if we are not advancing our aims, then we must — and we will — think again,” she said.