Green Party's simmering discontent over Golfgate

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the Clifden event should not have happened.

Reaction from the third party of government to the seismic meeting of the 81-strong Oireachtas Golf Society in Co Galway has ranged from the muted to the incredulous to the furious.

Officially, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, who leads his 12-TD-strong contingent in government, said that the much-maligned event at the Clifden Station House Hotel “should not have taken place”. Of the ousted Minister for Agriculture, Dara Calleary, whose attendance at the event precipitated his resignation after just 37 days, Mr Ryan said “he made a mistake, he apologised and now he has resigned”.

“I think Dara Calleary has done the right thing,” he said. “I hope this will not impact the good work happening right now across Government. What the government needs to do now is reflect, regroup, and focus our attention on what needs to be done.

"There is no doubt that this has been a difficult few months. We are living through unprecedented times, so many families have lost loved ones and many more have made huge sacrifices,” Mr Ryan added.

Privately, however, the reaction in the party was one of irritation and exasperation, with individual members saying there is a sense of anger in the ranks, with that frustration further compounded by the Greens’ official Twitter account promoting a message about compostable bread packaging as the story gained traction across the day.

The majority of Green TDs were not returning calls on the day. However, one senior elected representative when asked to sum up the party’s reaction said: “Fucking tumbleweed.”

Elsewhere, a senior Green party source said: “Well the powers that be have been predictably silent, other than Eamon's woeful press release.”

“Otherwise it's chaos to be honest, people are furious.”

“We’ve just got to say nothing and go along with it because this is the limit of Eamon's ambition, and he won't risk the comfort he has now under any circumstances.

“I think most of our TDs gave up on holding their seats the second they were elected. They think this is their only shot,” they added.

Patrick Costello, the party’s TD for Dublin South Central, while not returning a request for comment, did tweet about the incident in an oblique manner on Friday afternoon, saying that “we've all missed precious family milestones, friend's weddings and funerals of loved ones”.