Gormley and McKenna to vie for Greens' leadership

Minister for the Environment John Gormley and former MEP Patricia McKenna will fight it out to become the next Greens leader, it emerged today.

They were the only candidates to enter the race as the deadline for official nominations closed today.

As the sole candidate for the position of deputy leader, new Carlow/Kilkenny TD Mary White was automatically re-elected to the position.

Ballot papers to elect the new leader will be sent by post to Green Party members on Monday.

The deadline to return the completed ballots is Tuesday July 17. The new leader of the party will then be announced on Tuesday evening.

Nominations for the next leader of the Green Party are due to close today.

Former leader Trevor Sargent stepped down last month after his party members voted to enter government with Fianna Fáil.

The Dublin North TD had made a pre-election pledge not to lead his TDs into power with Fianna Fáil.

Ms McKenna, 50 was a Green Party MEP between 1992-2002 and ran in Dublin Central in the General Election. She voted against the party going into power with Fianna Fáil.

A former chairman of the Greens, Mr Gormley was appointed Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government by the Taoiseach on June 14.

"We need to get the message across that we're not just being swallowed up by Fianna Fáil," says Green Party leadership candidate Patricia McKenna.

Click here to listen to our wide-ranging interview with Ms McKenna.