Gogarty: Greens have been screwed by FF

ANOTHER senior Green Party figure has rounded on the party, questioning its role in government and whether it has the courage to stand up to Fianna Fáil.

Paul Gogarty TD said the party had “prostituted” itself by getting into bed with Fianna Fáil, telling the current edition of Hot Press magazine: “We’ve been screwed by them a few times, but we are hoping we can roll them around to get what we want, over the longer term.”

The Dublin Mid-West deputy says the party was “stupid” to prioritise relatively minor environmental issues while failing to get across “the bread and butter message”.

“I say stupid in that, as a party, we pushed them beyond their importance — bikes and bulbs. There’s a lot more going on in helping the environment than bikes and bulbs.”

He sends mixed messages about his own leader, John Gormley, claiming: “John has gone inward. He has gone a bit within himself because of the ministry,” but adding that he was “no cuddly teddy bear”.

“If you stand on his tail, he will demolish you. John has balls and he’ll fight his corner. He’ll cut your throat if it means doing the right thing. But the question is, have we the balls to put it to Fianna Fáil and has he taken his share of responsibility? The jury is still out.”

Gogarty’s less than whole-hearted backing of his party comes a month after the Greens lost high profile Cork city councillor Chris O’Leary, who resigned criticising the party’s “stay in government at all costs” approach, and Dublin city Cllr Bronwen Maher who said the party no longer stood up for the vulnerable.

The deputy speaks with open hostility of his party’s senior government partners, saying Fianna Fáil doesn’t realise yet how dependant it is on Green support and suggesting the Greens were instrumental in ousting Bertie Ahern.

“There were certain things that we had an influence on but you can’t go public with,” Mr Gogarty says, adding: “I detest everything that cute hoor Fianna Fáil stands for.”

Gogarty, who was adopted, also reveals in the interview how he met his birth mother after he turned 30 ten years ago and how he questioned his sexuality growing up, deliberately buying porn to test if he was interested in men before coming to the conclusion that he was fully heterosexual.