Greens to get social media masterclass ahead of local elections

Delegates at the Green Party's annual convention in Athlone are set to hear from party leader Eamon Ryan at 6.30pm on Saturday. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Green Party will offer its members a masterclass in social media as it prepares them for the local elections in 2024.

The party begins its annual convention in Athlone on Friday, with delegates set to hear from party leader Eamon Ryan at 6.30pm on Saturday.

The programme for the event will see Austrian climate action minister Leonore Gewessler, Friends of the Earth chief executive Oisín Coghlan, and Sadbh O'Neill of the DCU Centre for Climate and Society discussing politics and climate with Mr Ryan. Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman will then lead a panel on the reform of the childcare sector.

With local elections around 18 months away, potential candidates will be talked through the process of getting election-ready, while on Sunday, members will be given masterclasses in social media and energy and sustainability.

Greyhound industry

Newly reinstated TD Neasa Hourigan will lead a members' group discussion on the future of the greyhound industry. Ms Hourigan has published a bill that would also end the current model which allocates public funds to horse racing and the greyhound industry on an 80/20 basis.

Ms Hourigan said it is not acceptable that the greyhound industry receives annual funding by "default" each year. She said the bill is not about animal welfare issues and instead aims to bring proper financial oversight and planning.

The party's MEPs Grace O'Sullivan and Ciarán Cuffe will discuss a European Green New Deal, something they have dubbed "Europe's Man on the Moon Moment" before Mr Ryan and the party's deputy leader Catherine Martin speak.

Ahead of the conference, Mr Ryan said that the party was "focused on helping people and planet at the same time".

"Our retrofit plan will drive down families’ fuel bills, deliver warmer, healthier homes, and lower our country’s emissions," he said. "These are the sort of practical, progressive policies that the Green Party has delivered during the first half of its term of office and the groundwork has been done to deliver even more in the second half.”

Ms Martin said that the party has "remained focused on the urgent action needed to tackle climate change and to protect our natural world".