Eamon Ryan: 'Politics was a privilege but it's time to do something different'

Last year's election saw a significant level of attrition among politicians. Elaine Loughlin talks to the former Green leader about his decision to step down and what lies ahead

Eamon Ryan with his dog Sooty in Clonskeagh in Dublin. For Mr Ryan, being out of the political bubble and out of work is ‘strange’ but ‘familiar’. Picture: Gareth Chaney

Eamon Ryan has been here before, so time in the employment wilderness does not faze him.

Last June, Mr Ryan, who had been Green Party leader since 2011 and was first elected to the Dáil in 2002, announced that he would be stepping down.

Having lost his seat in the 2011 wipeout for his party, he says being out of the political bubble and out of work is “strange” but “familiar”.

“It’s weird. When you’re going from having meetings every half an hour, every day, all day, to one where your diary is much simpler, that is a bit weird,” he said. 

“It takes a while to adjust to it. But because I’ve been here before, I think that was slightly easier in my case.

“I’m not retiring, I just didn’t run for the Dáil,” he said, adding that he has also had a chance to spend more time in his beloved Inishbofin and his garden.

Last time around, he says, a number of projects “all came to fruition at the same time,” so he expects something similar to happen in the coming months.

He has “various irons in different fires” but will be focusing on issues of climate and sustainability.

“I’m not rushing myself into anything, because I don’t have to.”

For Mr Ryan, the transition out of politics was a gradual one.

As a member of the previous cabinet, he had to stay on as a minister until the end of January, which was not a “normal” work period, but he “still had to be there every day”.

“For me, the reason I stepped down was because I’ve been doing it for 30 years, and I’ve been, to my mind, at the very top. If you’re a leader of a party in Government, that’s an incredible privilege. It was something I really enjoyed, it was real honour. 

"But I felt it was time to do things slightly differently, to keep working in this whole area that I’m interested in, but use that experience maybe in a different way.”

Mr Ryan, especially in the last Dáil, became a punchbag for many rural TDs, coalition colleagues, and even Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.

Would he do it again?

“Absolutely,” he says, adding that he would encourage everyone to get involved in politics even if that is at a hyper-local level.

“I always think when you run for office, whether that’s parish council, whether that’s local government, you’re engaging as a citizen, it’s a very republican thing to do in the sense that we’re all equal and it’s open for everyone to take responsibility in whatever way they want.

“It could be the parents' council in the school — start there.

“It’s actually an honour and a privilege to take any representative role.

“You change from ‘they should do something’ to ‘we should do something’.”