Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has confirmed his intention to run for re-election as the party’s leader, reports RTE.
Deputy O’Gorman, who previously served as Minister for Children, took over leadership of the Green Party last summer before leading it into a general election that saw the party lose 11 of its 12 seats.
According to the Green Party’s internal rules, Deputy O’Gorman—now the only TD from the party—is required to seek re-election as leader within six months following a general election, reports RTE.
In a statement issued today, he confirmed he will be doing so.
“Today, the Green Party executive has opened the call for nominations for party Leader, and I want to tell members that I am standing for re-election as leader of our party. As the climate crisis worsens, the role of the Green Party as a strong voice for highlighting the environmental challenges we face, and bringing forward solutions that benefit everyone in Irish society, is more important than ever,” reports RTE.
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“We had a really disappointing outcome in the general election. But since then, I’ve led the work to rebuild the Party; being a strong voice for climate in the Dáil, appointing a new team of spokespersons to shadow government ministers and drafting a new strategic plan for the party. In the strategic plan, we are looking to listen and to learn why we lost votes, and understand how we can build back support across all parts of our country,” reports RTE.
“We’ve a lot to do, but I’m absolutely committed to driving this forward, over the next five years. I’m asking members for their nomination, so we can get going on this vital work,” reports RTE.
In July of last year, Deputy O’Gorman defeated Senator Pippa Hackett in a leadership race to succeed Eamon Ryan, winning 984 votes to her 912.
This evening, the Green Party’s Seanad representative, Malcolm Noonan, announced he would not be entering the leadership race, reports RTE.
In a statement given to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Noonan said he would not be contesting the role and had reached out to Mr O’Gorman to offer his support.
He said: “I believe that the party needs stability, experience and to remain laser focused on our core mission of climate and nature because no other party is leading on these issues. Roderic offers the best opportunity to rebuild the party. We have been here before but we are in a better position than 2011 with Dáil and Seanad representation and 24 excellent councillors around the country doing great work in their locality. Roderic has just appointed his front bench spokespeople and I’m proud to be part of that team. I look forward to the work ahead under Roderic’s leadership should he be re-elected,” reports RTE.
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