Greens target a councillor in every county

The Green Party’s convention will hear that the party aims to win a seat in every county in the June local elections for the first time ever. The target comes as more than 500 party members gather in the RDS for a convention which will urge voters to Keep Going Green.

The Greens are running a record 112 local candidates with an even balance of male and female candidates.

In this last convention in the RDS in Dublin on Saturday (April 20) before the June elections, delegates will hear from dozens of candidates contesting local, European and mayoral elections as well as the newest senator elected to the Seanad, Mal O’Hara, who took office earlier this month.

Over the past four years, the Green Party has introduced a series of policies that benefit both people and the planet. These policies reduce emissions and restore nature but also lower people’s bills and improve their quality of life. Around 150 homes are putting solar panels on their homes every day and generating clean energy from the sun, while slashing their electricity bills. Another thousand households are waking up to warmer homes and lower fuels bills every week thanks to the retrofitting grants.

The party has cut public transport fares for adults by 20% and 50% for young adults and is rolling out a new bus route in every week. The Greens have increased funding for organic farmers five-fold, which has seen the number of farmers and amount of land under organic farming treble. They have also established a new national park in the Boyne Valley, County Meath and rolled out a €1.3 billion forestry programme which is paying farmers to plant the right trees in the right places.

The conference will be told that Ireland has transformed from a climate laggard to a climate leader – the amount of emissions per person has halved in the past 20 years and early signs are that they fell again 2023.

Climate change will hit future generations hardest so it is no surprise that the Green Party has one of the highest proportion of young candidates running in the local elections. A quarter of candidates are under the age of 35. At a time of climate crisis, it has never been more important to have green voices on councils and in Europe.

Outside of climate and nature, the Green’s strong focus on communities has helped change Ireland for the better. Green ministers have cut the childcare bills of young parents by an average of 25% - with a further 25% cut to come next September. Green ministers introduced the right to request remote working for all employees and the right to request flexible working arrangements for parents and carers. Finally Green ministers pushed through support for 2,000 artists across the country to focus on their creative work thanks to the Basic Income for the Arts pilot.