Greens leader Trevor Sargent was given a spot on the op-ed page of this morning's Irish Times to celebrate his party's twenty-fifth year in existence. Of course back in 1981 it was the Ecology Party and it wasn't even a proper party. In 1987 the party received only 0.4 per cent of the vote but it made a breakthrough a couple of years later with the election of the eccentric Roger Garland. Sargent made it to the Dáil in 1992 and has been there ever since. Indeed, he hopes to bring in a running mate next time out in Dublin North. Sargent's message is that the Greens are no longer on the fringes of political life and that the party deserves chief credit for bringing environmental issues - and quality of life issues in general - onto the political agenda.
Our key policies - on which we have campaigned for a quarter of a century - are now more critical than ever. For 25 years, we have been actively pushing for better public transport; clean, renewable energy; improved provision for children, older people and vulnerable members of society; safer and higher-quality food; far-sighted planning and building regulations; clean politics; less pollution of water and air; and for a realistic strategy to tackle climate change.
Is this hyperbole or does he have a point? Would we have witnessed the greening of the policy agenda anyway? Such counterfactual speculations are probably a bit pointless and the fact remains that the Greens did establish a niche in the system and obviously raised the profile of environmental issues.
Sargent points out that, seeing the relevance of quality of life issues, other political parties have tried to copy their approach:
It is clear that, for them to "go green" in any substantial, credible sense, they need to fundamentally change their priorities. Nonetheless, their selective imitation, as the sincerest form of flattery, is an ongoing reminder of the impact of green politics on the Irish political agenda.
This "selective imitation" is less likely to work in electoral systems that make it easier for new political formations to gain entry. In the UK , for example, the Greens are effectively locked out of the two-party, first-past-the-post system. The Greens here benefited from the lower thresholds needed for parliamentary election. They achieved this on the basis of a relatively small activist base, which probably says a good deal about the appeal of a Green political brand in the more urban affluent constituencies where the party's Dáil Deputies have been elected.
It is my impression, with no empirical evidence to back it up whatsoever, that many Green voters are less concerned with the personalities of the party's candidates than they are in registering a preference for a particular type of post-materialist politics. But even in an era of voter volatility and partisan dealignment, there is a limit to how far this situation can continue to result in more seat gains. The Greens did well to double their representation in the local elections of 2004. Next year they aspire to broaden their social and geographical base with high hopes pinned on Niall Ó Brolcháin in Galway West, Deirdre de Burca in Wicklow and of course deputy leader Mary White in Carlow-Kilkenny. They may even make it into government and that will be the real test of their political maturity and resources.
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