Greens vow to fight back after ‘deal with devil’ decimates party

IT was, in the words of the Greens’ Ciarán Cuffe in 2007, akin to “a deal with the devil”.

And the consequences of his party’s decision to enter coalition with Fianna Fáil were hammered home in the election as the Greens lost every one of their six TDs.

Green leader John Gormley lost his seat in Dublin South East, as did deputy leader Mary White in Carlow-Kilkenny. Mr Cuffe suffered the same fate in Dun Laoghaire, as did Paul Gogarty in Dublin Mid West, who conceded defeat early on Saturday morning via social networking site Twitter.

The party’s two best hopes, Eamon Ryan and Trevor Sargent, also fell, in Dublin South and Dublin North respectively.

The party’s wipeout, and the causes for it, were perhaps best symbolised by Mr Sargent’s defeat.

He had been a Green TD since 1992, and became the party’s first leader in 2001. Having railed against political and planning corruption throughout his career, he was a vociferous critic of Fianna Fáil, and during the 2007 election campaign, promised that he would not lead the Greens into coalition with the larger party.

When the election outcome meant Bertie Ahern came calling, Mr Sargent stepped down as leader in order to stick to his promise, but supported the Greens’ decision to go into government under his successor, Mr Gormley. Mr Sargent later accepted a junior ministry.

Mr Cuffe also supported the decision, but wrote presciently on his blog: “Let’s be clear. A deal with Fianna Fáil would be a deal with the devil. We would be spat out after five years, and decimated as a party. But ... would it be worth it?”

The party decided that it would, and defended its decision at the weekend, while acknowledging they had paid a massive price.

But Mr Gormley insisted the Greens would rebuild, although he would not be drawn on his own future as leader, saying only that he did not wish to make any rash decision.

“We have suffered a major defeat, but the party will regroup. We will continue. We’re a party with a set of beliefs and values and a vision for the future,” he said.

“We have great people here. We’re going to rebuild this party.”

But such a task is made even tougher for the party because of the fact it also suffered calamitous losses in the 2009 local elections, and thus has only a handful of councillors, which means a very small base from which to rebuild. But Mr Gormley rejected comparisons with the now-defunct Progressive Democrats, who also came off worse from coalition with Fianna Fáil.

“We were there before the PDs; we’re outlasting them,” he said.

“We will continue, and we will continue because we have a core set of values and we will follow through on that. We will rebuild this party — make no mistake about it.”