Roderic O’Gorman re-elected as Green Party leader

Roderic O'Gorman was on Thursday re-elected as leader of the Green Party. Picture: Paul Sharp/Sharpix

Dublin West TD Roderic O’Gorman has been re-elected as Green Party leader.

The party’s sole TD was re-elected to the role, with no challenger emerging in the field to contest the leadership race.

The party held the leadership contest given its internal constitution, with a requirement for a leadership election to take place within six months of an election of a new Taoiseach.

Alongside Mr O’Gorman retaining his position, Dublin councillor Janet Horner has been elected as the chairperson of the Green Party.

Ms Horner was automatically elected to the position, with no other candidate reaching the required 30 nominations to force a vote.

Speaking after his election, Mr O’Gorman said he was “honoured” to have the Green Party membership express their confidence in him.

“Our party had a difficult election last year, but we continue to be a strong voice for climate action, for supporting families and for equality,” Mr O’Gorman said.

The Green Party leader said he had focused on rebuilding the party after its election loss last year, appointing new spokespeople and developing a strategic plan to understand why the party performed so poorly.

Ms Horner said she was grateful to her party colleagues for nominating her to the chairperson role.

“I don't take on the role lightly — I know we have a huge amount of work ahead of us. The climate crisis and the interconnected issues of social justice, equality and inclusion are growing ever more urgent and the Green Party are uniquely positioned to bring political solutions to the table for these,” she said.

Mr O’Gorman lashed out at the current Government, saying it was “only too delighted” to begin throwing out Green Party policies. 

“At a time when Ireland needs to be redoubling its efforts to reduce our emissions, the signs from the new Government is that the foot is coming off the pedal and that timing couldn’t be worse,” Mr O’Gorman said.

He highlighted funding cuts to programmes like the tenant-in-situ scheme as key Green Party measures which were now being thrown “overboard”.