2024 Green Party leadership elections (Ireland)
Leadership elections occurred in Ireland's Green Party in July 2024, after Eamon Ryan announced his intention to resign as party leader. Ryan, who had led the party since 2011, announced his resignation on 18 June 2024. Following the announcement, deputy leader Catherine Martin announced she would be stepping down as deputy leader, triggering a deputy leadership election.
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| Turnout | 1,896 (55.36% of 3,425 eligible voters)[1] | ||||||||||||
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The election was held online over three days. Roderic O'Gorman won the election and became leader of the party on 8 July 2024.[1] Of the 3,425 votes available, O'Gorman received 984 votes, while Hackett received 912.[2]
The party's deputy leadership election was held on 14 July 2024,[3] and was subsequently won by Róisín Garvey.[4]
Background
editAt the 2024 European Parliament election and local elections held on 7 June, the Green Party lost both of its MEPs and half of its local councillors.[5]
Ryan announced his resignation as party leader after the 18 June meeting of the cabinet.[6] Ryan also announced his intention to resign from office as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport in the coalition government of which his party is a partner, and said he would relinquish both roles once the Green Party had elected a new leader. Ryan's resignation made him the second party leader in Ireland's coalition government to announce their resignation during 2024 following that of Leo Varadkar, who stepped down as leader of Fine Gael and as Taoiseach.[5][7] Ryan said that the election results were not his reason for stepping down from the role, but that he had made the decision to do so several months earlier "for a variety of reasons including family commitments". Speaking on the 18 June edition of RTÉ's Six One News, he also confirmed he would not contest the next general election.[6][8]
On 19 June, a meeting of the Green Party's executive committee set 8 July as the date for the leadership election.[9]
Candidates
editA number of Green Party TDs, including Malcolm Noonan, a junior minister in the coalition government, and Neasa Hourigan, TD for Dublin Central, ruled themselves out of running to replace Ryan.[10][11]
| Candidate | Office | Announced | Endorsements |
|---|---|---|---|
 Pippa Hackett (Senator on the Agricultural Panel) |
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine | 19 June 2024 | Senator Pauline O'Reilly and TDs Brian Leddin, Steven Matthews, and Ossian Smyth[12][13] |
.jpg) Roderic O'Gorman (TD for Dublin West) |
Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth | 19 June 2024 | Marc Ó Cathasaigh, Malcolm Noonan, Patrick Costello, and Joe O'Brien who initially considered standing, as well as several councillors including Hazel Chu[14] |
Pippa Hackett is a farmer from County Offaly[15] and has positioned herself to be the leader who can win support from farmers and rebuild trust with rural voters.[16] All Green Party leaders to date have been from Dublin.
Roderic O'Gorman said he believed the party needed to broaden the focus on its policies beyond its climate and nature restoration, and that he would try to form a "progressive alliance" with Labour and the Social Democrats who are seen as centre-left.[17] Hackett responded to O'Gorman via X by saying she would work with any party and that the Green Party was "not the SDLGP".[18]
Deputy leadership election
edit
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| Turnout | 653 (71.21% of 917 eligible voters)[19] | ||||||||||||
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Following Ryan's announcement, deputy leader Catherine Martin also confirmed she would step down from her post, but said she would continue her role as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media,[20] and contest her Dáil seat in Dublin Rathdown at the next general election.[21] Minister of State Ossian Smyth had initially declared his candidacy but pulled out following the election of O'Gorman as leader, saying that the deputy leader should be a woman.[22] The election for the deputy leadership was held on 14 July. The election was won by Senator Róisín Garvey.[23]
Candidates
edit- Neasa Hourigan, TD for Dublin Central; former Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight[3]
- Róisín Garvey, Senator[3]
Withdrawn
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Finn, Christina (8 July 2024). "Roderic O'Gorman has been elected as new leader of the Green Party, replacing Eamon Ryan". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ "Roderic O'Gorman elected Ireland's Green Party leader". BBC News. BBC. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Maguire, Mairead (24 June 2024). "Róisin Garvey joins Ossian Smyth and Neasa Hourigan in race to become Green Party deputy leader". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- ^ Hurley, Sandra (14 July 2024). "Garvey sees off Hourigan to become Green deputy leader". RTÉ News. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ a b "Eamon Ryan to step down as Irish Green Party leader". BBC News. BBC. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ a b Lehane, Mícheál (18 June 2024). "Ryan and Martin to step down from Green leadership roles". RTÉ News. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ "Key leader in Ireland's government quitting as Green Party chief". POLITICO. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Ryan, Philip; McTaggart, Maeve (19 June 2024). "Green Party leadership: Supporters of Offaly farmer Pippa Hackett first out of the traps". the Irish Independent. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ Ryan, Philip; Monahan, Tabitha; Nolan, Darragh; Ndjonkou, Tessa (20 June 2024). "Taoiseach describes personal attacks on Eamon Ryan as 'unethical' and labels him a 'very good man'". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ Matthews, Sam (19 June 2024). "Kilkenny TD Malcolm Noonan won't seek Green Party leadership, endorses his colleague". Kilkenny People. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ McNally, Tadgh (18 June 2024). "Joe O'Brien considering Green leadership bid as TDs rule out replacing Eamon Ryan". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ McQuinn, Cormac (19 June 2024). "Green Party leader: Hackett announces she is entering race against O'Gorman". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ McTaggart, Maeve; Ryan, Philip; Downing, John (18 June 2024). "Push for Pippa Hackett to contest battle to replace Eamon Ryan as Catherine Martin to step down as deputy leader of Green Party". Irish Independent. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
- ^ Ryan, Philip (19 June 2024). "The Green Party leadership race is on... Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman first to declare candidacy". Irish Independent. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ Murphy, Barry (22 June 2022). "My Farming Week: Mark and Pippa Hackett, Ballinvoher, Geashill, Co Offaly". Irish Farmers Journal. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- ^ McTaggart, Maeve (19 June 2024). "'I believe in a fresh start' – Pippa Hackett confirms she will run for leader of the Green Party". Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- ^ O'Connell, Hugh (23 June 2024). "Greens' leadership hopeful sets sights on alliance with the left". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
- ^ Matthews, Pippa [@pippa_hackett] (24 June 2024). "The Green Party is the Green Party. We are not the SDLGP. As leader I will work with any political party that is prepared to facilitate real environmental action" (Tweet). Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Hurley, Sandra (14 July 2024). "Garvey sees off Hourigan to become Green deputy leader". RTÉ. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Quann, Jack (18 June 2024). "Catherine Martin to 'step back' as Green Party deputy leader". Newstalk. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ Nevin, Emma (18 June 2024). "Catherine Martin to step down as Green Party deputy leader and won't contest leadership race". Dublin Live. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ MacRedmond, David (8 July 2024). "Ossian Smyth pulls out of race to be Green Party deputy leader, saying it should be a woman". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ Horgan-Jones, Jack (14 July 2024). "Senator Róisín Garvey elected as Green Party's new deputy leader". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ MacRedmond, David (8 July 2024). "Ossian Smyth pulls out of race to be Green Party deputy leader, saying it should be a woman". The Journal. Retrieved 9 July 2024.