Two settings give as good an indication as any of the battle lines that have been drawn in the Green Party leadership race.
Roderic O’Gorman stands in a long hallway with high arches, its black and white tiles arranged into an unmissable chessboard style.
This is the ministerial corridor in Government Buildings, lined with the offices of the highest-ranking politicians of the land. O’Gorman’s bid to succeed Eamon Ryan relies on his track record here. His pitch to the party is that it needs to broaden its policy base.
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Some 90km away, Pippa Hackett stands near a ditch on her family farm near Clonygowan in Co Offaly. A herd of curious cattle in the next field move towards her when they spot the familiar figure.
This place is key to the leadership pitch Hackett is making: the party’s three previous leaders were all Dublin based; it haemorrhaged most of its seats in rural Ireland, where it was perceived as being at a remove; and it needs a leader who can connect with rural Ireland and whose own organic farm is living proof that the transition to a sustainable way of life is achievable.
Eamon Ryan’s departure as leader – and the decision of his deputy, Catherine Martin, not to contest the vacancy – has left an unexpected duo duking it out for the top job: in one corner, O’Gorman, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and a TD for Dublin West, and in the other, Hackett, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity and a Senator.
There are clear lines of demarcation between them.
The focus of Hackett’s bid is very much based on a traditional environmental approach, allied with a purpose to reach out to rural Ireland. O’Gorman’s mission is that he wants the party to expand its red lines to equality, social justice and other rights associated with left-of-centre parties.
O’Gorman sits in his office wearing his ministerial full metal jacket, a trim suit, light pink shirt and slim tie. Although aged just 41, he brings no shortage of experience.
“At 11 I would have been out canvassing for Trevor Sargent in the 1992 general election,” he says.
He was first elected 20 years ago, was a founder of the Young Greens and is a former chairman of the party. He has long believed the party’s values went wider than the environment.
“I remember at my selection convention (to become a council candidate) in 2004, I felt the need to tell members I was gay as there was still some stigma around being gay. Advancing LGBT+ rights and social rights were issues that were important to me,” he says.
He adds that he joined the party “on the environmental issues” and “stayed for the social justice side of things”.
Down a quiet rural road on Co Offaly cascading with hedgerows, foxglove and wild angelica is the 200-acre sheep and cattle organic farm run by Hackett and her husband, Mark. On the way to the house is a menagerie of rescue animals, horses, cats and a friendly one-eyed lurcher called Penny.
Brought up in Ballindine Co Mayo, Hackett was a champion show jumper in her youth. The interest in horses extended into her academic life. She has a degree in agriculture and a PhD in equine biomechanics.
Her interest in Green politics deepened after she and her husband Mark made their farm organic in 2013. She won a council seat for the Greens in 2019 and was elected a Senator in 2020 after an unsuccessful Dáil bid.
Politics has become a family affair. Mark was co-opted into her council seat in 2020. Her 20-year old son Charlie ran unsuccessfully for Laois County Council last month (and even penned a rap song for his campaign). This morning in the kitchen, the youngest of her four children, George (13) is getting ready for his last day in national school.
Her decision to stand for the leader’s job was prompted by the election results, where the party lost half its council seats and its two MEPs.
“The results painted a grim picture for us all,” she says. “I said I’m not waiting around for another 10 years ... because there’s a defeatist attitude out there. For me the most essential thing is that we are relevant to people and are in Government.”
Relevance for Hackett means connecting with rural Ireland. Only eight of the party’s 23 councillors are from outside Dublin, and most of those are based in urban centres.
“When I knock on doors, the general consensus is: ‘It’s not working for us; we’re not seeing it; we’re not feeling it’. That’s a problem for us. A just transition is one of the core principles of what we represent,” she says.
The Greens in rural Ireland have become synonymous with culling the herd, ending the nitrate directive, carbon taxes, being anti-car and anti-farmer.
“I do recognise that,” says Hackett. “I think there are valid concerns and it would be a big mistake to dismiss what people say.”
Her argument is that if the Greens stay in power, good alternatives and wins will happen for people. If not, there will be backsliding. She cites the expansion of the rural bus service, which has been significant but is not everywhere yet.
“The aspiration is to get one through every village every hour, and that’s what we will hopefully get if the Greens stay in government,” she says.
She points to Green initiatives. The number of organic farms has increased from 1,600 (2 per cent of the land) to 5,000 (5 per cent). The carbon tax has been ring-fenced to fund an ambitious agri-environment scheme, retrofitting in the midlands and fuel allowance support for vulnerable groups. There has been a move away by farmers from fertiliser-heavy single species grass to multi-species swards.
“We are constantly up against that negative narrative but if you flip it on its head and say if the Greens aren’t in Government, you will not get as many supports,” she says.
The differences between Hackett and O’Gorman aren’t binary. Both are green (O’Gorman says that ultimately that is what separates his party from others). Both also advocate for equality and social justice. It is, rather, a difference of emphasis between them.
We have allowed ourselves to be pigeonholed in the area of climate and nature. We are not a single-issue party
— Roderic O'Gorman
Experience will be another factor. O’Gorman has been in the cockpit of one of the most turbulent departments.
“I am in a department where there are so many plates spinning and you are dealing with complex and controversial issues,” he says. “You ship criticism, some of it legitimate but some quite intensely personal as well. If you don’t toughen up, you don’t survive. My ability to push measures has definitely improved.”
His big argument is the Greens will need a bigger chunk of the electorate than its core if it is going to expand.
“That’s why I’m very clear that going into the general election, we have to be talking about a wider range of issues,” he says.
“I deliberately chose a department outside of the traditional environmental departments. I chose a social department and halted the cost of childcare, increased paid leave for parents,” he says.
“We have allowed ourselves to be pigeonholed in the area of climate and nature. We are not a single-issue party. We have never been a single-issue party.”
Won’t that dilute the party’s appeal and move it into the same space as Labour and the Social Democrats?
“I don’t believe it will dilute our core,” he says. “We will always be at our core an environmental party.”
Does he accept the Greens have essentially lost rural Ireland? How does he propose to win rural voters over?
He says he will address that with policies that make a real difference to people’s lives. The party has experts from the party with credibility, he says, who can communicate with people outside the urban areas about policies and show they are not trying to undermine their lives.
There is one other issue in the race: if elected leader, Hackett will be leading from the Seanad and negotiating with the two other party leaders. Is that a problem?
No, she says. She has been sitting at the Cabinet table for the past four years and has been there for all Government decisions, big and small.
Both candidates contend the Green Party can have a good general election under their leadership. Both say they will return to government if possible.
That said, both will have a tough job winning a Dáil seat in their own constituencies; O’Gorman’s path looks a little easier but judging by the recent local and European elections, no Green Party seat is safe.
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