de Búrca resignation - Green Party policy must be coherent

Senator Déirdre de Búrca’s resignation from the Green Party and Seanad Éireann yesterday sent shockwaves through Irish politics similar to those caused by the resignation of George Lee from Fine Gael and Dáil Éireann at the start of the week.

While George Lee’s attack on the Fine Gael leader was at least thinly veiled, Senator de Búrca made no effort to hide her disillusionment with Green Party leader John Gormley. “I have lost confidence in you as party leader,” she declared in her open letter of resignation.

“I can no longer support the Green Party in Government,” Senator de Búrca added, “as I believe that we have gradually abandoned our political values and our integrity and in many respects have become no more than an extension of the Fianna Fáil party.

“Staying in Government appears to have become an end in itself,” she insisted.

Other party members refuted her suggestions, arguing that she was only a minority voice within the party.

They contend the Green Party has played a major role in introducing reforms, such as the civil partnership legislation and the direct election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. They also claim the party has been hugely influential in bringing about changes in energy planning and enterprise polices, as well as promoting broadband technology and restraining educational cuts.

The party’s main task, however, is not to convince the media of its influence but to persuade the voting public. This becomes all the more difficult if the party is unable to convince even its own small number of elected representatives.

Déirdre de Búrca, who represented the Green Party for eight years on Wicklow County Council, served for two-and-a-half years in the Seanad as one of the Taoiseach’s appointments. Since the Green Party went into Government with Fianna Fáil in 2007, it has also lost three other councillors – Neil Clarke in Letterkenny, Chris O’Leary in Cork city, and Bronwen Maher in Dublin – amid assertions of a growing split between the leadership and grassroots of the party.

Since independence a number of small political parties that have come to power and then vanished from the Irish political scene. They include Clann na Poblachta, Clann na Talmhan, the Democratic Left and Progressive Democrats. Will the Green Party be next?

To survive, the Greens must demonstrate that they have coherent policies that distinguish them from the larger parties. They must be clear about their own message and be true to it.