The Greens
The 2019 local and European elections were largely categorised in the media as the beginning of a ‘green wave’, the Green Party winning 49 seats, an increase of 37 seats from 2014. The 2020 general election was meant to be characterised by the continuance of this green wave. And, looking at the Green Party’s result in isolation, it was. They won 12 seats, a gain of ten and twice as many as their previous highest result in 2007. However, they were overshadowed by Sinn Féin’s rise and election victory. In recent weeks, with attempts to form a broad left government faltering and an agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to draw up a Programme for Government together, the Greens were invited to join this establishment stitch up to keep Sinn Féin out of government. They duly joined the government formation negotiation talks, with leader Eamon Ryan meeting with Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar last week.
To understand the Green Party (and indeed, to understand any political movement), you must look at who their supporters are. Most importantly, the class of their supporters must be looked at. In the most recent Red C poll, it was found that only 2% of those who fall into the C2DE category supported the Greens, with 9% support for the party in the ABC1 category. By contrast, Sinn Féin had 40% support with C2DE voters. While these measures are not a perfect measure of class, it gives an indication of the makeup of Green Party support. Clearly, judging by this poll, the working class do not support the Greens.
This helps us to understand why Green Party environmental policy targets the poorest in society rather than the richest, who are largely responsible for the climate crisis. Their plan for an increase in carbon tax without any solid plans for state run renewable alternatives will hurt the working class. The aim is to make people use more renewable energy sources but the only effect it will have is to price people out of heating their homes. Eamon Ryan’s talk of carpooling in rural Ireland also shows their lack of understanding of rural communities. Rather than promote increased public transport in rural areas, the Greens ignore the burden that this would place on the working class, punishing them for a problem created by big business and their lapdogs in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
There has been talk of the Green Party betraying their mandate if they enter government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. This is false. Due to their support largely drawn from the middle classes, their supporters have no problem with them working with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. In my local constituency, Galway West, for example, Fine Gael received twice as many transfers from the Green candidate as Sinn Féin candidate (and now TD) Mairéad Farrell did.
This does not mean they won’t lose support. The Greens were decimated in 2011, losing all their seats, after they were in government with Fianna Fáil. However, this was not because they entered government. In fact, for the first two years of that government, the Green Party polled higher than they had in the previous election. Their support declined because their brand of environmentalism without class struggle failed to tackle the climate catastrophe and will fail to tackle it again. They capitulated to Fianna Fáil’s demands, with then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan even supporting the construction of a pipeline for Shell and supporting the violent suppression of protests against it. The Greens will lose support because, if they enter government, they will capitulate again and the inherent contradiction in their approach will shine through.
It would be wrong to say that there is no disagreement about entering government within the Green Party. The split has been widely reported, with some of their new TDs apparently considering leaving the party if they enter government. This left wing of the Green Party, of which popular Mayo-based candidate Saoirse McHugh is the face, oppose entering government with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. To enter government, two-thirds of Green Party members would have to support the Programme for Government at a special conference and this left wing will be hoping to defeat this. However, there is evidence to show that it is likely this will not happen. A motion at the most recent Green Party conference, brought by McHugh, to identify the Greens as ‘explicitly anti-capitalist’ was defeated. As was a motion which sought to reject coalition with the two parties they are currently negotiating. It was defeated by a five-to-one margin. While this wing of the Green Party is principled in their efforts to stop a coalition, there is little evidence that they are the majority in the party.
Thankfully, for Green supporters who oppose this establishment stitch up, or ‘Vegan Sinn Féin’ as a Galway comrade describes them (as opposed to Ryan’s ‘Blueshirts on Bikes’), there is a party who’s solution to the climate emergency does not harm the working class. Sinn Féin are committed to a Just Transition to a low carbon economy. Our environment policy, pioneered in Europe by former MEP Lynn Boylan (who lost her seat to a Green, Ciaran Cuffe, who owned shares in fossil fuel companies), proposes no increase in carbon tax until viable alternatives are in place. It proposes no new fossil fuel infrastructure, a ban on fracking and complete state divestment from fossil fuels. It promotes massive state investment and community ownership of clean, renewable energy projects and support for farmers to move onto cleaner energy sources. Sinn Féin have the support of the working class and will make sure big business is the target of solving the climate crisis they caused and not the poorest in society.
The Green Party stands at a crossroads. They can go into government with the right wing parties and tinker round the edges while the planet burns or they can go into opposition, build a viable broad left alternative which can show how to deal with this threat to our world. The ball is in their court.
Le Niall Campbell