The Green Party: Regathering and Refocusing

It was good to be at the Regathering and Refocusing event in Dublin on Saturday. Following what was a serious defeat for the party in the General Election I was concerned that we might spend most of our time looking backwards instead of forwards but I needn’t have worried.

The period since February 25th has been a difficult one for me personally and has caused me to question so much of my own motivation and purpose after what was my first serious electoral setback. To quote the song, ‘some days are better than others’ and Saturday last was definitely one of the better.

I can now see that because of the way in which the membership of the party responded to what happened, going backwards can be part of a longer term journey forwards. The first thing that struck me was how few people I knew in the room on Saturday. I reckon there were three hundred and fifty people attending from all over Ireland and the vast majority were interested in reviving the Party’s fortunes but doing so on the basis of a good analysis and making the most of the opportunity that is now presented. That opportunity may not be obvious given the scale of our defeat but in fact it is there and it is about using the space and the time now available to us before the 2014 local elections, to renew our analysis in our thinking and to develop positions around economic sustainability and environmental limits that make sense to people.

I believe we need to be speaking to people in terms of equality, fairness and ideas that make sense as we face an increasingly uncertain future. It is not equality and fairness in the old sense of a right/left paradigm, rather it needs to be based on proposing an economic model that is achievable but that is formed by the Politics of Enough, as Trevor Sergeant put it last Saturday. The Politics of Enough does not pander to a need for more and more but offers people the reassurance of a good quality of life sustainable employment underpinned by renewable energy.

At the group session there was much talk of currency reform and the problems of market economies and I look forward to those debates developing within the party and the policy positions emerging from them. The focus too, on getting candidates in the field for the 2014 local elections to enunciate those policies was to me a sign of hope and vigour within the organisation. It’s up to every member now to play a role in the future and to take up responsibilities that up to now staff handled but again I believe that members are up to the task and willing to take part.

It was quite an honour to be approached by so many during the day about the leadership question. I have been discounting myself from any such contest for personal and business reasons and must continue to do so unfortunately, however there are other officer positions that I might be able to do with some success and would be open to considering. I look forward to the distillation of ideas and practical steps that will follow from the conference and want to commend Edel, Karen, Pat, Grace, Phil and every body else involved in having the foresight to see the need for this event and putting it together long before the election occurred. We owe them a debt of gratitude and I look forward to being guided by some of what has emerged as a result of Saturday’s gathering. Some days are better than others but as a result of Saturday none will be as bad as what we’ve experienced in the past month or so.