Electorate ‘realise Greens opposed ridiculous tax breaks'

Name: Roderic O’Gorman

Party: Green Party

Age: 29

Experience: Law lecturer at Griffith College. Teacher with adults with Legal Education for All project in Dublin. Was a Greens negotiator with justice ministers on civil partnership.

Q. Are some voters questioning why the Green Party are fielding somebody since they had such a miserable response from the electorate in the general election?

A. You get one or two jokes about “ah, I didn’t think there was a Green Party anymore” but for the most part people are very happy to talk with myself and our canvassers. Sometimes they say critical things but a lot of people are pleased to see that the party is still involved in politics.

Q. What are you focusing on as a Green Party candidate?

A. I’m focusing on jobs, education and political reform — an issue still on the minds of the electorate. Not a huge amount has been done since the Government came into office. People are noticing that and continue to want that [political reform].

Q. Are you getting any stick about the fact the Greens were in power with Fianna Fáil and failed to stop all the terrible policies that some say contributed to the economic collapse?

A. Most people make a distinction between the cause of the economic collapse and the response to it. And people realise that we would have campaigned against the policies that brought the country to the state it is, with the over- zoning of houses that created the housing boom and the ridiculous tax breaks that were granted.

People are critical of some of the measures we took in response to the economic crisis when we were in government, but they also see the fact that Labour and Fine Gael aren’t deviating hugely from them.

Q. What makes you qualified to take the seat?

A. Education is something I’m very passionate about. I’m also a law lecturer. EU law and constitutional law are my specialities. Those are two areas which will feature a lot in this Dáil. There will be a constitutional convention looking at the Constitution and I think I could influence that. Our relationship with the euro is something I could contribute to, with a PhD on European law.

Q. What’s your opinion about the other candidates in the field?

A. The major difference between myself and them is that I see this as a national election for the parliament. I’m not running to be a glorified county councillor. Most of the candidates from other parties are councillors and some, I feel, see the Dáil as an extension of the council, focusing on local issues.

Q. You ran to be a councillor before and failed.

A. I did, twice, and I came fifth for the fourth seat in 2009.

Q. How do you think the Green Party will fit now into a society which is broke, dispirited, determined to oppose increased taxes, including environmental ones, and which kicked your party out in the last general election?

A. What I’m hearing from people is that there is a role for a Green voice in the Oireachtas. People are concerned about the long- term vision about economics, social policy and environmental policy that’s missing from there at the moment.

Q. Do you have any pet projects, or ambitions to do anything in the Dáil?

A. I’d love to see the right to health care and housing written into the Constitution. That would force future governments, irrespective of their ideology, to spend much more on infrastructure. Another issue would be marriage equality. That is something I would hope to push within the constitutional convention.

Q. Which non-political public figure would you most admire?

A. Arundhati Roy. She won the Booker Prize for The God of Small Things. She’s an Indian author and has campaigned on environmental issues.