PERHAPS it was wishful thinking but the Green Party expected to be a winner in this general election, with up to five Dail seats, But in the end it was squeezed by a last minute switch of support to Fianna Fail and Fine Gael as voters plumped for "stability".
"The Greens are absolutely shattered by the result," a former party activist said, "They really expected to make a big break through but it just wasn't their day. Though the party was more prepared than ever to fight an election and put a lot of planning into the campaign, it just didn't pay off when the votes were counted." A notable casualty was Cllr Dan Boyle in Cork South Central. Last week, the other parties were almost prepared to concede him a seat and the Greens believed he would walk in. But he won just 3,622 first preference votes (6.6 per cent of the poll) and was eliminated on the eighth count.
Dublin South was another bright prospect, mainly because of its notorious volatility. Animal rights activist Mr Gerry Boland ran a good campaign but garnered only 3,539 first preference votes (6.1 per cent) and was eliminated on the seventh count.
The party made gains in its share of the vote in most of the capital's constituencies, ranging from less than 1 per cent in Dublin South Central to nearly 5 per cent in Dublin North, where Mr Trevor Sargent, its only representative in the outgoing Dail, was returned. But in North East its vote fell.
Apart from Dublin North and Dublin South East, where Mr John Gormley was elected in a cliffhanger with just 27 votes to spare (assuming the result stands), the Greens' share of the poll was not much higher than the 2.9 per cent it won nationally.
A failed Green candidate said a major problem with the party's strategy was that "poor candidates were run in constituencies that looked good for us, while really good candidates were run in other constituencies where we hadn't a hope of taking a seat", Dublin Central exemplified this. Cllr Ciaran Cuffe ran a slick campaign. But though his canvassers covered 80 per cent of the doorsteps and felt the election was swinging their way, support ebbed in the last few days and Mr Cuffe won just 3.5 per cent of the first preference vote.
Ms Carol Fox, campaign manager in Dublin South East, put it down to "panic at the last minute" over the prospect of instability and smaller parties like the Greens holding the balance of power. This led people to vote for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, a trend compounded by the presidential style campaigns run by both parties.
Mr Cuffe found it "disturbing" that parties with "strong ideals", such as the Greens and the Progressive Democrats lost out to larger parties with blander programmes. It was this "reversion to a not very interesting past", rather than disenchantment with the Green Party, which had produced the "wrong result".
Mr Gormley's success in possibly taking a second seat for the Greens is attributed to his high profile as Lord Mayor of Dublin three years ago as well as his work locally. But he is not universally popular among party colleagues and one source suggested his apparent victory might result in some people leaving the Greens.
"The result represents a real crisis for the Greens and will lead to a lot of soul searching," this source said.
In switching to the larger parties, voters were not just seeking political stability for its own sake, according to another party activist. It had, nothing to do with any perceived austerity in the Green Party's programme. "They wanted to get politicians out of their hair for another five years," he said.
