Eamon Ryan thinks 1 in 10 of us will vote for his…

Eamon Ryan thinks 1 in 10 of us will vote for his Green Party in next election

Eamon Ryan believes one in ten people will vote Green at the next election.

The Green party chief told reporters that he plans to more than double the party’s representation at local councils level from 45 to 100.

And if there was a general election called, a ten per cent target would see the party return up to 16 TDs to the next Dáil.

However, this is highly ambitious as the Greens are currently languishing at between 3% and 4% in most opinion polls, which would see them lose seats in any upcoming elections.

The Coalition partners had their best ever election last time around when they won 12 seats in the 2020 general election and entered government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Mr Ryan was speaking at the Greens’ annual conference in Athlone on Saturday where he told the Irish Mirror about his ambitions.

He said: “The first focus is on the local and European elections.

“The transformation we seek will come from the bottom up, not just at the Dáil or European Parliament.

“I think our councillors around the country, look at what Hazel, Catherine, Louise (three councillors) are doing at a local level, I think people recognise that that’s progress, positively working with people, delivering real change in people’s daily quality of life.

“And I think people will vote for that.

“And I think as well, the scale of climate change that’s happening, that we’re witnessing, people will be put the question at the next election, well, are you willing to vote for a safer future for your children, or grandchildren, or nieces, or nephews.

“And I think the answer to that from the Irish people will be yes.

“And I think, it’s not easy in government, it’s never easy, but I think this false narrative in my mind that you’ve the old adage, that the smaller parties suffer in government, I don’t think that’s an absolutely set rule.

“I think if we can show delivery for the Irish people, that improves the quality of life as well as addressing this future, the big challenge of our time, I’m absolutely confident that they will, that we can get those numbers (10%).

“But it’s heads down in the meantime, keep delivering, then we face that election with our heads up, proud of what we’ve been doing in government serving our people.

“So yeah, I’m absolutely confident we can do that.

“Are one in ten Irish people willing to cast their vote for the next generation?