Green Party leader: 'We did badly in general election due to poor communication'
Green Party cathaoirleach Janet Horner, party leader Roderic O'Gorman TD, and Senator Malcolm Noonan ahead of the Green Party think-in at the Molesworth Gallery in Dublin. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins
The Green Party's poor showing in the general election was down to a failure to communicate with the electorate.
At the party's think-in, leader Roderic O'Gorman lamented that they "didn't play the comms game right" when it came to last year's campaign.
"We failed to communicate the benefits of the measures we introduced and we failed to strongly contest and strongly reject narratives that were out there about us," he said.
This is something the party will be focusing on as it seeks to rebuild before the next election cycle.
A strategic plan published to members this week also outlines the need to take a more targeted approach to identifying where seats can be won at local, national, and European level.
The party also needs to build "a more durable vote" to escape the up-and-down cycle it has found itself in, Mr O'Gorman admitted.
With 23 councillors elected last year, Mr O'Gorman identified it as an area where the party showed durability. However, he also said that some voters were "not too worried what party" the candidates were in but were more motivated by the community work record of the councillors.
Although the leader said the Greens have bounced back from worse positions previously, he said the task of rebuilding takes some focus away from policy work and holding the Government to account.
Addressing the media before the think-in in Dublin, Mr O'Gorman criticised the current "do-nothing Government".
"231 days, 10 ten pieces of legislation passed. For comparison, in the previous Dáil in that time, 27 different bills were enacted, were made law," Mr O'Gorman said.
The Government only seems to have enthusiasm and energy for rolling back on initiatives and policies introduced by the Greens during the last Government, he claimed.
"For example, the climate and nature fund, that €3bn fund to help us meet future challenges in the area of climate. The Government has raided that and is using that to fill current gaps in infrastructure spending," Mr O'Gorman said.
"Not one cent of that €3bn is going to be spent on nature restoration, for example."
He said Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have gone quiet on big-ticket items promised during the election campaign such as public childcare, lower student fees, and radical action on the housing crisis.
"We have a Government that is backsliding on climate and sitting on its backside when it comes to absolutely everything else," he said.
On the presidential election, Mr O'Gorman said the Green Party would make a decision within the next week on whether to back an existing candidate or sit out this election.
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