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EAMON RYAN IS stepping down as leader of the Green Party.
Ryan, who is also the Climate, Environment, Communications and Transport Minister, made the announcement after informing his government colleagues at a Cabinet meeting earlier today.
He won’t be running in the next general election, he confirmed.
Ryan, who has been “either running for or holding public office” for the last 30 years, said his career has been “an absolute privilege”.
The Green Party lost half their council seats (going from 44 to 23) and both of their MEPs – Grace O’Sullivan and Ciarán Cuffe – in the recent local and European elections.
Ryan said he decided to step down “a good few months ago”, rather than after the recent election losses.
He said he will hand over to a “new generation” and that he believes the coalition government can go full term.
Updates from Órla Ryan and Muiris O’Cearbhaill
Hi, it’s Órla Ryan here.
Some breaking news this morning: Eamon Ryan is expected to step down as leader of the Green Party.
Ryan, who is also the Climate, Environment, Communications and Transport Minister, is due to make an announcement at 12.30pm after today’s Cabinet meeting.
We’ll keep you up to date with all the latest developments.
It is understood that Ryan has spoken to the Government leaders about his decision and has also informed members of his parliamentary party.
The Green Party lost half their council seats (going from 44 to 23) and both of their MEPs – Grace O’Sullivan and Ciarán Cuffe – in the recent local and European elections.
The Greens did have one recent victory with the passing of the Nature Restoration Law in Europe.
European environment ministers signed off on the law yesterday, finally green-lighting the hard-fought for legislation to protect and restore degraded ecosystems.
The law seeks to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems by 2050, with measures to restore urban, forest, agricultural and marine ecosystems.
Eamon Ryan says that the approval of the Nature Restoration Law at an EU Environment Council meeting this morning marks an important, future-looking day
— Lauren Boland (@laurenanna_1) June 17, 2024
He also says the vote result received "one of the longest applauses" he's seen at these meetings
(Vid by @EUCouncilPress) https://t.co/8s25dAuwTD pic.twitter.com/E6kgc8cKrA
Ryan, who represented Ireland at the meeting in Luxembourg, yesterday welcomed the “historic decision”.
He told other ministers there is “no food security in a world where nature is destroyed”.
“The compromise that has been reached more than anything else was attentive to the concerns of our farming community, which are valid. This is a voluntary law in the sense of the measures we may have to take will not be forced or imposed on any farmer or forester,” Ryan said.
You can read more about the Nature Restoration Law in this explainer from our climate change reporter Lauren Boland.
Habitats and ecosystems will be revitalised and protected under the law, which was originally proposed two years ago.
Most of the legislation that passes through the EU rarely becomes a topic of public conversation, but this law proved controversial and emerged as a topic of debate in many member states including Ireland.
My colleague Cormac Fitzgerald has summarised the last Green Party leadership race:
It’s just over four years since Eamon Ryan was challenged for the leadership by deputy leader Catherine Martin.
Back in June 2020, despite a strong showing for the party in that general election, Martin decided to challenge Ryan for the top spot, after a faction of TDs and Green Party councillors encouraged her to do so.
All Green Party members are entitled to vote, and their vote is given equal weight, no matter if they are a member of the parliamentary party, a councillor or a regular paid up member.
Ryan won by just 48 votes, receiving 994 votes against Martin’s 946. There was a 66.7% turnout among party members for the vote.
Here is what happens when a leader steps down, according to the Green Party’s constitution:
“In the case of the Party Leader resigning without completing a term, an election shall be called by the Executive Committee and the result be announced when the ballot is completed; the term thus started shall last until after the next general election in the Republic of Ireland, when a leadership election must again take place after polling day and no later than six months after the subsequent election of a Taoiseach.”
Our Political Editor Christina Finn is hearing rumblings that Roderic O’Gorman is one of the frontrunners to succeed Ryan. An election will be needed either way, so members of the party can have their say.
More from my colleague Lauren Boland:
From a high to a low – just yesterday, Eamon Ryan was in Luxembourg for an important meeting of EU environment ministers, where the Nature Restoration Law was finally approved.
Ryan and Green Party colleague Malcolm Noonan were part of a big push to try to get reluctant countries to back the law, and Ryan, on his social media and in media statements, emphasised that work put in by Ireland to get the law over the line.
We’ll need to learn more about the timeline of his decision to step down to know whether his cards were already dealt yesterday and he was enjoying a moment of victory before the end, or if it was a last-chance effort to show his party why they should keep him on top.
A little trip down memory lane.
Here is then-councillor Eamon Ryan at the Green Party’s launch of proposals for a Dublin Metro Line at Buswells Hotel in February 2002.
And here he is opening a window during the 10th plenary meeting of the North-South ministerial council at Farmleigh house in Dublin in July 2010.
Fun game: Tell us you’re killing time until he makes the announcement without telling us you’re killing time.
In happier times, when the Green Party proposed additional Luas lines in Dublin, Cork and Galway in 2007.
Ryan (right) is pictured with then-MEP Patricia McKenna and then-GP leader Trevor Sargent.
Mark Mellett, former head of the Defence Forces and current board chair with Sage Advocacy and Mara (the Maritime Regulator), has praised Ryan as a “courageous leader”.
It is a privilege to work with Minister @EamonRyan. He is a courageous leader, pursuing policies to decarbonise and restore biodiversity. Every climate indicator points towards a perilous future ahead if society fails to mitigate and adapt. https://t.co/uRLCQfg6kR
— Mark Mellett (@mark_mellett) June 18, 2024
My colleague Cormac Fitzgerald is taking a look at the runners and riders to take over from Eamon Ryan as Green Party leader:
So, Ryan will soon be gone. Which means, under the Green Party’s own rules, an election will now take place for a new leader.
Whether or not two or more people will challenge for the position remains to be seen, but if they do it will go to a contest.
Any candidates have to be nominated. A candidate does not have to be an elected TD, senator or councillor to get the top spot. Any party member can put their name forward to run.
However, it is highly likely that a sitting TD, probably with a high profile (so maybe a minister or junior minister) will get the top spot.
First up: Catherine Martin
Having narrowly missed out on the job four years ago, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin is the most high profile Green TD apart from Eamon Ryan.
It’s unclear if Martin still wants the top job, but you’d imagine she’s in with a good shout if she does.
Despite holding a whole host of portfolios, what has dominated Martin’s attention over the past year is the ongoing RTÉ financial scandal. The scandal, dealing with financial mismanagement at the national broadcaster, has rumbled on for months, and seen a number of high profile departures.
Martin was at the centre of the story herself back in February, following the resignation of RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh after the minister declined to express confidence in her.
Martin came under strong criticism and calls to resign as a result, but she weathered the storm and appeared before an Oireachtas Committee to defend herself.
Time will tell if after four years at the top table Martin is still interested in going for the Green Party leadership.
Another update from our Political Editor Christina Finn who has been speaking to members of the Greens’ parliamentary party.
Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, is being discussed as a possible successor to Ryan.
Christina tells us: Roderic’s name is emerging, though the obvious assumption before today was Catherine Martin.
They say nothing has happened or led to a push, it’s just good timing. The thinking is that Ryan would support O’Gorman as leader.
The Greens had what is described as a disastrous local election and Ryan might think that O’Gorman – who was the party’s director of elections – becoming leader could save ROG’s seat as a TD, sources in the party say.
Ryan is expected to remain on in his ministerial role for the time being, but will likely be replaced after the new leader takes over.
His portfolio covers Climate, Environment, Communications and Transport.
Another profile from my colleague Cormac Fitzgerald, who is looking at who might succeed Ryan:
Roderic O’Gorman
The Green Party’s third (or possibly second, given his brief) most well-known TD is Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman. The first time TD was elected in 2020 for the Dublin West constituency.
Despite Martin being the obvious choice to potentially follow Ryan as the next leader of the Greens, some sources are tipping O’Gorman to take the role.
It has been a baptism of fire for O’Gorman, who took up the Integration and Children brief and absorbed responsibilities for the management of Direct Provision, which had previously been under the control of the Department of Justice.
O’Gorman took over the managing of asylum seeker accommodation with the express plan of ending the system. He even published a white paper in late 2020 committing to ending Direct Provision by the end of 2024.
But, needless to say, events took over. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 led to a severe refugee crisis as Ukrainians fled the country. Tens of thousands are currently living in Ireland, which has put significant pressure on accommodation and local services in many towns and cities.
As well as this, since the end of the Covid-19 crisis there has been a massive rise in the numbers of people coming to Ireland seeking International Protection. This has led to the Government – under O’Gorman’s watch – developing a harder line with asylum seekers.
Male asylum seekers have been told there is no accommodation for them, with over 2,000 currently homeless. Makeshift encampments set up in Dublin City are frequently destroyed by the Government. Benefits have also been cut.
Meanwhile, many buildings earmarked for use by asylum seekers are frequently the subject of protests by locals and outsiders and arson attacks, as the far-right and anti-immigration campaigners attempt to use the crisis as a wedge issue.
Immigration has become one of the central issues the Government is dealing with, and at the end of the day management of the crisis falls to O’Gorman. Because of this, the minister’s profile has skyrocketed, but perhaps not for the right reasons.
However, there is some sympathy for O’Gorman for the fact that he is being landed with problems that essentially apply to the whole of Government, concerning as they do Housing, Health, Social Protection and other departments.
Whether he remains popular enough to lead the Greens remains to be seen but, according to sources, he could well be in contention.
The announcement has been slightly delayed – the Cabinet meeting is apparently ongoing – but we’re expecting to hear from Eamon Ryan shortly.
While we wait, here’s another photo from the archives.
Green Party members Eamon Ryan, Ciarán Cuffe, Dan Boyle and then-party leader Trevor Sargent chained themselves to trees on O’Connell Street in Dublin city in November 2002 in protest over plans to cut them down.
Grey clouds are rolling in over Dublin city – pathetic fallacy, perhaps?
Some political journalists have said Ryan may have a ‘Rishi Sunak moment’ – that is, delivering a big announcement in the lashing rain.
Hopefully he has an umbrella. More as we get it.
Dublin Commuters, a group which campaigns for active and sustainable transport in the capital, has paid tribute to Ryan, describing him as “one of the most important voices in Active and Public Transport over the past few decades”.
Eamon Ryan has been one of the most important voices in Active and Public Transport over the past few decades
— Dublin Commuters (@DublinCommuters) June 18, 2024
He’s brought in significant change during his tenure as Minister for Transport and we hope whomever the next Green Party Leader is, can continue that work & advocacy https://t.co/QefbqdaJoE
Ryan said it has been a privilege to serve, but the time is right to step down and “pass the torch” to someone new. He said he will accept whatever role in the party the new leader assigns him.
Ryan said he believes the Government will last its full term (until next year) and needs to remain focused on delivering affordable housing, healthcare reform and climate action.
Ryan said it has been an “honour to lead our parliamentary party” and thanked members for their “great resilience and humour” during difficult periods.
Ryan again praised the passage of the Nature Restoration Law yesterday, saying it shows what can be done when people work together.
He said one of his “biggest regrets” is that a “narrative has taken hold that [the Green Party] are not concerned about rural Ireland”, adding that this is not true.
“Divisive politics will not work if we are to see the scale and speed of change [needed to tackle climate change],” he stated.
He also spoke about “relentless” attacks over the years particularly on social media, even after his father passed away.
Ryan says one of his regrets is a narrative has taken hold that the Greens don’t stand for rural Ireland. He says that’s not the case.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 18, 2024
He says there has been relentless attacks over the years particularly on social media, even when his father passed away. pic.twitter.com/kgZi5OZzri
Ryan has confirmed he will not stand in the next general election in Dublin Bay South, saying he has parenting and other commitments he wants to focus on. He thanked his wife Victoria White for her unwavering support during his time in office.
Eamon Ryan announces that he is stepping down as Green Party leader and will not be seeking re-election.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 18, 2024
He says he will continue as a minister until a new party leader is appointed. Ryan says he’s happy to serve in any capacity the new leader deems appropriate pic.twitter.com/U1XclDNx5C
Ryan said he decided to step down “a good few months ago”, rather than after the Greens’ recent election losses.
Ryan said he has been “in public life now for close to 30 years” and has “loved every minute of it”.
“Yesterday’s approval of the NRL at the Environment Council was another one of those memorable days when we said yes to protecting nature across Europe.
“However, as a leader, it is important to always know that there is a time to go and a time to pass things on to new talent.
“I will continue my lifelong campaigning for climate justice, but in a different way.
I have worked 24/7 for many years in politics but am no longer in a position to do that because of family and parenting commitments.
“This is a decision I came to a while ago, but the time wasn’t quite right to announce it. We are into a new political cycle now.
“The local and European elections have been completed and while the next election won’t happen immediately, it is something that every party will be preparing for over the coming weeks and months.
“This is a good time to hand over to a new leader, who can bring a new perspective, and new way of doing things to the job.”
Ryan took over as leader of the Green Party in May 2011 “at a time when the party was at one of its lowest points, when it had no Oireachtas representatives and only three councillors”, a statement just released by the party notes.
“Working on a largely voluntary basis, he rebuilt it, travelling around the country and expanding the membership,” the statement continues.
“He was re-elected to the Dail in 2016 and following record local and European election results in 2019, he led the party to its best-ever General Election performance the following year, when 12 TDs and four Senators were returned.”
The Greens has sent out a list of what Ryan achieved in office. Here are some of the main achievements (their list was a lot longer):
Here is Ryan’s full resignation speech:
“I am stepping down to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders, confident in the strength and values I have seen built up in our party over all these years.”
— Green Party Ireland (@greenparty_ie) June 18, 2024
After 13 years, @eamonryan announces his decision to step down as our Party Leader.https://t.co/HIy6pL9xag pic.twitter.com/HubQSsnDpq
I am here today to announce that I intend to step down as leader of the Green Party and that I will not be standing in the next General Election.
I have spent the last 30 years either running for or holding public office, as a councillor, TD and Government Minister. It has been an absolute privilege and I want to thank the electorate who have voted for me on eight different occasions over those years, giving me the opportunity to serve our city and country to the best of my ability.
I am stepping down to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders, confident in the strength and values I have seen built up in our party over all these years. Our Party will now elect a new leader to lead the party from here and our own local group will now select a candidate to run in Dublin Bay South.
I will continue as party leader and in my Ministerial roles until a new leader is appointed and look forward to fulfilling whatever role a new leader assigns me for the remaining term of this Government.
I have a number of important measures coming to Cabinet in the coming weeks and we have critical legislation regarding Planning and development, the Just Transition Commission and Marine Protected areas which we still expect to be enacted in the lifetime of this Government.
We also have a fifth budget to deliver, which has to show the same characteristic of the previous budgets in providing the greatest support to those most in need in our society.
I am confident this Government can go the full term, despite this second change in Party leadership. Our coalition was formed with the most detailed Programme for Government, negotiated by the three parties and not just the leadership. Our focus should remain on providing affordable housing, health care reform and climate action in the coming months. There would have to be good reason to leave such important work undone.
It was an honour to lead our Parliamentary Party, who have shown great resilience and good humour in meeting all the challenges we have had to face together. I want to acknowledge all our Green Councillors, old and new, who are the heart of our party in local communities and thank every member of my staff, whose advice and help has been invaluable.
It was a pleasure to work with the civil servants in my two departments and across the Public Service. While we may have had our differences, our government has maintained a spirit of collaboration in making many difficult decisions. A lot of the credit for that goes to our own green teams here in Government buildings, in the Oireachtas and in Suffolk Street, our party headquarters.
This Government has had a proud record and we have set the country on a course to a more sustainable and secure future. Social justice is integral to green politics. Investing in Public Transport and safe streets helps the disadvantaged the most. Relying on our own renewable energy keeps money in the country and creates good jobs that last. Paying to restore nature will help more marginal farming systems most of all. This is the best future for rural as well as urban Ireland.
I look back over the last four years and am proud of what we have achieved.
Reducing the loss of life during Covid.
Introducing a strong climate law.
Cutting public transport fares and starting an offshore and solar energy revolution.
We have the highest level of retrofitting in any EU state meaning that every week 1,000 more households wake up in homes that are warmer, healthier and cheaper to heat.
We designed and delivered the energy credits which helped people in the cost-of-living crisis.
We are lowering speed limits and delivering the National Broadband plan.
Our deposit refund scheme is working.
We have built out cost rental housing, recognised Palestine and been a champion on the world stage for climate justice for developing countries.
Only yesterday we helped rescue and approve the Nature Restoration Law in the EU.
I could go on. Even our harshest critics make the case about how much we are doing in turning the country Green.
One of my biggest regrets is that under my watch a narrative has taken hold that we are not concerned about rural Ireland, our solutions are costing people and we are not connected to the man and woman on the street. None of that do I believe to be true.
Divisive politics will not work if we are to see the scale and speed of change that has to be achieved. Our approach is to start by listening to people, asking for help, rather than telling everyone what to do, admitting uncertainty in how the change will work best and speaking to the heart and not just the head because our motivation comes from a love of creation and our place within it. We seek benefits for every place and community in the transition we need to make.
Convincing people of that has not been easy because we have also been the subject of a relentless attack, particularly on social media. It seemed at times that we were subject to coordinated attacks in the comments section following any post we made. I decided to ignore the worst comments, even when it included vile statements about my own recently deceased father. The level of invective has only increased in the last year and poisons the well of public thinking about our agenda and not just our party. That is one of the reasons why it is so important that we cherish a strong, impartial and independent media and that we put the future funding in place so that people can trust that they are getting accurate information on what is happening in our world.
You could despair about the future of our democracy if you were to live just in that algorithm driven and polarising online world. However, I am hopeful as to what is going to come next. I have spent the last few days contacting every one of the 132 candidates that ran for us in the local and European elections, getting feedback on how their campaigns went. I am inspired by their continued determination to serve the public and their feedback that the majority of discussions at the doors was both very engaging and very civic minded. In leaving my leadership role I will be asking a new generation of people to take up this honourable public role by joining our party and joining us in meeting the public when the next election comes.
I will continue to work on climate action but in a different way. I cannot continue to work the long hours that being a public representative involves, which is why I am not standing again. I have parenting commitments at home which I also want to serve. We have a son with special needs who also requires my attention. My wife Victoria White has been my greatest support and inspiration. I want to also thank all my family and friends who have been at my side at all times.
I will do everything I can to support the future success of our party, adhering to our founding principles: to address the ecological crisis in everything we do; to insure social justice comes with this transition; to engage in peaceful politics, respecting everyone and to work within our democratic constitutional system and the rule of law, trusting the people to make the right decision in the end.
It was an honour to work in the office in front of me now, looking across at the offices of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General and the Secretary General of the Department of Taoiseach. It was a privilege to work with the various office holders inside those offices and with my Cabinet colleagues. I would like to thank them for the courtesy they and the opposition leaders in our Oireachtas have shown me over the last four years.
We are lucky to be able to serve within the institutions of our democratic Republic. I look forward to supporting our new party leader, seeing out our current mandate and then returning to the people looking to them for direction on what comes next.
I look forward to it all.
*eyes emoji*
Members of the Greens’ parliamentary party watching on from the ministerial offices of Government Buildings as Eamon Ryan announces his departure as leader pic.twitter.com/2krdvfOIjC
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 18, 2024
Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have both paid tribute to Eamon Ryan.
Speaking to reporters, Martin said that Ryan gave “an enormous contribution to Irish politics and Irish life”. The Tánaiste wished the minister well in the remainder of this Government’s term and in the future.
Micheal Martin pays a warm tribute to Eamon Ryan.
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) June 18, 2024
He says the budget is the next big focus for the government. He says the government is going the full distance. pic.twitter.com/1KXdM8iOod
Harris said: “Minister Eamon Ryan yesterday informed me of his decision to resign his leadership of the Green Party.
“Eamon is a politician of enormous standing and I want to pay tribute to him and his family for everything they have given Irish politics through his leadership of the Greens. I respect and understand his decision.”
The Taoiseach described Ryan as a “genuine, passionate and inherently decent person who brings those same qualities to politics”.
“The leadership of the Green Party is now a matter for the party’s members and rules,” he added.
Harris echoed Ryan’s insistence that the Government’s wil see out the rest of it’s term and the completion of the Programme for Government.
“We have much work to do,” he added.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik has also wished Ryan well.
As @EamonRyan makes his announcement, I wish to express my heartfelt good wishes to him, his family and @greenparty_ie colleagues on such a momentous personal and political decision. https://t.co/StYbuppRTx
— Ivana Bacik (@ivanabacik) June 18, 2024
On that note, I’m going to hand over the liveblog to my colleague Muiris O’Cearbhaill.
Thanks for staying with us so far. We’ll keep you updated with developments throughout the day.
Our reporter David Mac Redmond has been chatting to Green Party Cllr Hazel Chu, one of the party’s best-performing candidates in the recent election, about today’s announcement:
Now that Eamon Ryan has ruled himself out of running in the next general election, attention will undoubtedly turn quickly to the candidates in the Green Party likely to vie for his Dublin Bay South seat in the Dáil.
Among the potential runners are three Dublin candidates who performed well in the local elections – Claire Byrne, Hazel Chu and Carolyn Moore.
All three women either topped the poll on 7 June or got elected to Dublin City Council in the first round of vote counting.
Byrne is a DCC councillor for the South East Inner City ward, Chu represents the Pembroke area and Moore holds a seat in Kimmage-Rathmines.
When asked about the Green Party’s plans for who they might run in Ryan’s place, Hazel Chu told The Journal that she didn’t want to weigh on that today.
“For me, I would very much like to thank Eamon for his leadership and focus on him today,” Chu said.
“My main thing is just to wish him well and make sure that the party stays its course.”
The Green Party has paid tribute to their outgoing leader in a thread on X (formerly Twitter), after Minister Eamon Ryan confirmed he will be stepping down from the role today.
In it’s post, the party looks back at Ryan’s career in the Greens, adding: “Resilience, integrity and vision throughout. Thank you, @eamonryan.”
In 13 years, @eamonryan led the Green Party from the political wilderness back into Government, leading transformative action for climate, nature and society.
— Green Party Ireland (@greenparty_ie) June 18, 2024
🧵A quick recap:
As these things go in Leinster House: After a minute of madness, it’s right back to business as usual for TDs as they take their seats in the Dáil ahead of Leaders’ Questions.
Former Green Party leader, John Gormley, who Eamon Ryan succeeded in 2011, has paid tribute to the outgoing leader’s career on X (formerly Twitter).
Gormley said that Ryan had helped him in his 1989 Seanad election campaign and later co-opted Gormley’s Dublin city council seat in 1998.
“He has been an outstanding minister. Go raibh maith agat, a Eamóin, as do chuid oibre ar son na tíre,” he added.
A young @EamonRyan , 24, was my campaign manager in the 1989. I co-opted him to my council seat in 1998. He succeeded me as leader and TD in dublin bay south. He has been an outstanding minister. Go raibh maith agat, a Eamóin, as do chuid oibre ar son na tíre.
— John Gormley (@JohnGormley) June 18, 2024
Speaking in the Dáil, Taoiseach Simon Harris paid tribute to the role Eamon Ryan played in the current Government and said he accepts his reasons for stepping down.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik has also paid tribute to Eamon Ryan’s career and acknowledged his resignation during Leaders’ Questions this afternoon.
Bacik said that Ryan made “immense contributions to public service and environmentalism”.
Junior minister for nature and heritage Malcolm Noonan, and fellow Green Party member, has said Eamon Ryan is a “titan of Irish politics” who will be remembered as the party leader who “transformed Ireland’s environmental movement and made it mainstream”.
Noonan, who also contested the 2011 leadership election which Ryan won, said he spent Ryan’s first day as leader with him.
Yesterday, Ryan and Noonan attended the EU Enviornmental Council on behalf of the Irish Government in Brussels to debate and pass the Nature Restoration Law.
Noonan said:
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that 13 years later, we’d be spending his last day as leader together as well, representing Ireland, both as ministers, ushering the most important piece of biodiversity legislation for 30 years through the EU Enviornmental council.”
Noonan wished Ryan, his “good friend”, well in the remainder of the Government’s term and in the outgoing leader’s future post-politics.
My statement on the resignation of my friend and colleague Minister @EamonRyan as Leader of the @greenparty_ie pic.twitter.com/JRe5Oo8pYq
— Malcolm Noonan T.D. (@noonan_malcolm) June 18, 2024
Leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns, wished Eamon Ryan the “very best” after he announced his resignation today.
“He has always been sincere and helpful and can be proud of his significant contribution to Irish public life,” she said.
I want to wish @EamonRyan the very best as he steps down as leader of @greenparty_ie.
— Holly Cairns TD (@HollyCairnsTD) June 18, 2024
He has always been sincere and helpful and can be proud of his significant contribution to Irish public life.
Before we wrap up, here are the main takeaways from this afternoon’s announcement:
So, the obvious question is: What’s next? My colleague Cormac Fitzgerald has got you sorted.
That’s all from me and the rest of the team. Have a lovely rest of your day.
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Good. China, India and Middle East are the ones who need to cut back. The green farcical movement is dead. Common sense is prevailing globally.
@Marvin Dollery: Making large parts of the planet uninhabitable is not ‘common sense’. It is the height of short-sightedness and stupidity.
@Brendan O’Brien: €1.20 has been deposited to your account Brenda. Don’t forget, we only offer to pay a maximum of €5.00 per day, so make sure your toxic comments cause maximum damage.
@Marvin Dollery: do you ever think why they have huge emissions ? Most of western products and equipment is made there. It’a not domestic production it’s the large amount of energy needed to create the products exported to us that are the issue . Our demand is the reason for the huge emissions in these countries which supports their economies. You probably type your comment on a phone made in China with a load of fossil files used to create it (plastics and energy) as well as child labour..
@Marvin Dollery: Exactly my sentiments!!!!!!!
@Marvin Dollery: oh,is that brenny account PAID?????mmmm, makes sense!!!
@Frank Mc Carthy: Brendan isn’t even its real name. It has been paid for for YEARS to sow doubt and dissent. The dogs on the street know that.
@Marvin Dollery: mmm….. as Jimmy cliff sang ‘ I can see clearly now’, lol…… I thought it was just like my wife & would try and argue with the wind. That makes so much sense that it’s paid, cheers
Folks the story below on that man dealing with cancer could use a little love and consideration for a few supportive comments, there isn’t a family in Ireland that this has not been affected by cancer. A love pile on would be great for the author I reckon
@Paul M Doe: The phoney tears of a troll: don’t you normally cry these in your ‘Frank’ profile?
@Brendan O’Brien: ahhhh, poor brenny got exposed BIG time & now nobody’ll engage with the paid shill!!! Looks like your good ‘run’ is over, lol
@Brendan O’Brien: it’s cancer Brendan, don’t do this, you are better than that, did you even look at what I posted on what was a tumbleweed of a story (in comments terms). It will impact all of us. Call me all you want but give that story a little bit of love as I’m sure it would be appreciated by the author
@Marvin Dollery: China only approved 10 coal fired power stations in the first half of 2024, a drop of 83% compared to the same time last year (I read only 4 more coal plants were approved in second half of 2024). China’s Solar power farms increased 78% in just one year, with enough new solar power plants installed to power all of Ireland more than 3 times over. They produce 97% of the world’s polysilicon solar panels and 60% of the world’s wind turbines. Their wind generation capacity generates enough electricity to power all of Japan, and they have more wind farms than all of Europe or the US. They also approved 21 new nuclear power plants since 2023. Renewables now generate c. 45% of China’s electricity needs.
Their expansion of renewables is so fast that for the first time their coal use didn’t increase this year, their power generation increase was entirely met by the expansion of renewables.
@Paul M Doe: hard to credit brenny reduced to mocking & deriding a cancer hero……time for it to hang up the ol’& trolling boots???
@Brendan O’Brien: and if everyone in ireland went to shanks mare tomorrow and went off grid…….it wouldn’t change the outcome for those parts of the planet. The principle of taxing ourselves into oblivion is nothing short of a Con.
@Marvin Dollery: Hey that’s my line! Lol. Btw he’s paid €1.25, not 1.20.
@David Jordan: Now, David, I’ve only been around here about 3 weeks but already I have realised that facts and reasonable argument are wasted on most posters. A post like yours just ruins their pre-concieved ideologies, so they ignore it and keep blustering onwards!
@Me Me: The Jordanite was left online for an hour or so. He only makes comments to massage his ego.
@Marvin Dollery: China a green leader rn. Have to admire how the just get on with it, the opposite of the Irish
@Brendan O’Brien:
The earth always had floods, famine, and drought in areas that was never suitable for humans.
@Me Me: As you will have probably guessed also is that most of the comments are by one guy under different names. He is having a wild time today talking to himself. Its very funny stuff to watch.
@Brendan O’Brien:
Go hide under the bed,Brendan,we’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out!
@HisMastersAlibi: The funny thing is, if the journal banned the IP address as opposed to email addresses, it would get rid of the multiple account problem
@Pat Barry: Hmm.. I see we have a censorship advocate in our midst. Dear lord you’re thick.
@Marvin Dollery: Banning multiple accounts would not be censorship. Individuals would still be free to comment, on a level playing field.
@Frank Mc Carthy: damage limitation is it frank…I was gone the weekend but I see several people referencing a boo boo u made….it was delicious I must say seeing you forget to switch back to your frank account from kevvy…
@Brendan O’Brien: €0.15 for that one Brendan. Must try harder.
@Marvin Dollery: We have a bigger carbon footprint per capita than India as do all ‘western’ countries. China is also well down the list. If these people really are serious about the planet they’d start to call out the biggest polluter body on the planet, a body that’s also exempt from all these carbon emission surveys – being of course the US military.
@Brendan O’Brien: your opinion only and thankfully.
@Marvin Dollery: No Martin, not censorship advocate…a fairness advocate. Every individual is entitled to their opinion and has a right to express it. That is what is right, correct and fair. What is not fair is how there is are some individuals on here, using multiple avatars to make it look as if the opinions they are expressing are more valid. It is easy to create multiple email addresses from the various providers, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and so on, so the best way to stop the individuals doing the multiple accounts is to stop the IP addresses, unless they are paying for multiple Internet providers, and that would not be cheap, and if they do ban an IP address due to a proven multiple account user, then that was a rule break anyway and should be banned.
@Marvin Dollery: Oh by the way….as to being thick, you actually think you are getting away trying to convince the people reading your comments that your own multiple avatars are individual commentors? You do not need a degree in linguistics to see the one set of colloquialisms and mannerisms across your various avatars comments to see who is who….. and you have the cheek to call me thick. Thanks, I needed a laugh.
@Pat Barry: I only have one account Paudi. I can do enough damage to all the clowns on here sowing doubt and dissent with just the one alias. If you were any good at identifying “mannerisms” and specific “linguistic” styles you’d know that. Pathetic.
@Clare Power: It was very funny.
@Marvin Dollery: ah now really, still making me laugh. You and your fellow avatars of the individual behind you, are/is really putting on a good comic show, but we can all see the reality.
@Marvin Dollery: You’ll be right, Merv. The whole world isn’t against you. Take a break from the aul keyboard though I’d say. Or find someone to talk to. In person of course.
@Brendan O’Brien: unless india China Russia and the USA cooperate then what we in ireland do means zero that unfortunately is the basic truth we and the rest of the world rely on them
@Marvin Dollery: Doubt and dissent from what exactly? You hate anyone disagreeing with you. Little bit fascist if you ask me
@Brendan O’Brien: “large parts of the planet” does not, by definition, include Ireland.
If Ireland was to quite literally disappear from earth, it would make a 0.1% reduction in global emissions. That’s right, 0.1%. That is our measured output of global emissions. So all these cutbacks and climate measures which do nothing but make the average citizen poorer, will at most, have a less than 0.1% impact on global emissions. It is up for the larger countries with massive polluting industry based economies, such as China and India, to fix their emissions.
@Sean Stevenson: It’s up to every country. Also, we are part of the EU, which can make a large difference.
@Brendan O’Brien: Are China India and The Middle East in Europe? Punishing Irish people with sick green taxes and greenwashing will make NOT ONE JOT of difference. Luckily, most people have common sense. The green disaster is dead.
@Brendan O’Brien: we exported our co2 to China who are still building coal power stations. If you read your metrological history we are only getting back to the temperature normally of the last 5000 years. There has been a 20% increase in crop yields and worldwide vegetation due to higher co2. You won’t get the greens telling you that.
@gregory pym: CO2 is good for plants, but the increased greenhouse effect that it contributes to is disastrous in terms of climate change. ‘we are only getting back to the temperature normally of the last 5000 years’ makes no sense: the science is clear.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/climate-change/how-does-the-greenhouse-effect-work/
@gregory pym: China approved only 10 new coal fired power stations in the first half of 2024, a drop of 83% compared to the same time last year. There’s indications that China’s massive investment in renewable energy generation, for example solar power plants increased 83% in just one year, with enough new solar generation to power all of Ireland more than 3 times over, that renewable energy generation is meeting the increased energy demand and coal power plants don’t need to increase. Their renewable energy provides about 45% of their electricity generation needs.
China in joined the Paris Agreement in February 2023, and it previously introduced a domestic carbon trading scheme in 2022, which adds a cost to CO2 emissions from power stations.
@Brendan O’Brien: Historically, Ireland never had an industrial revolution. As we’re reminded by our betters regularly, we were a third world country until the 60s. Surely it’s up to industrialised nations to bear the weight of this transition. Now multinational corporations are competing on the open market for renewables. We’re paying extortionate prices for fuel. I’m not buying that Ireland needs to do more internationally. We should be focusing our attention on our ecology and stop with this carbon obsession
@Sean Stevenson: green tax is such a farce to a government so irresponsible with tax payer’s money…
@Sean Stevenson: If it gives us another month of being able to spread the butter on the bread without destroying the bread I’m all for it.
@Uí Braonáin: Hold on a second now.. So you’re saying – you want the ambient temperature of your kitchen to be high enough to melt the butter onto the bread as its spread. A temperature akin to a fine Irish Summers Day in the mid twenties. Yet, you’re one of these lads who catastrophises fine summer days and thinks we should pay tax to offset it, which does not work. In essence, you are calling for hotter days as opposed to colder days, yet spout global-warming-like nonsense to beat the band. Do you actually hear yourself? Change your name to Uí Braindead you headcase.
@Sean Stevenson: .004 of 1% ridiculous we are carbon neutral with all our trees sucking up 25kg of co2 per tree
@Sean Stevenson: very well said. The biggest con job ever pulled.
@Marvin Dollery: Stop arguing with yourself and come out from under that bed, a sheoinín. You’ll be grand. only want my bread buttered. Not a fan of the aul waffles.
@Uí Braonáin: I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Go back to bed clown.
@Sean Stevenson: an ignorance of a post, you would eliminate us so that you point is valid ?
@Paul O’Mahoney: Man your reading comprehension is so beyond poor that I ignore all your replies on my posts. What the actual hell are you implying here? In fact, I’m going to mute you. You come across as somebody who drinks way too much whiskey in retirement.
@Brendan O’Brien: nope. Green politics has just created formal fuel poverty. Taxation fixes nothing.
People on here more concerned about generations 500 years away when they’re grand children will be minorities in their own country. They want to end up like London or Paris.
@Cole Palmer: Amsterdam
@Cole Palmer: new paper just published in Nature says the warm current that keeps northen Europe mild, is in the process of weakening due to fresh water input from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and arctic sea ice driven by global warming. The ocean current called AMOC has already substantially weakened since 1950 and if global warming continues, and it likely will, in only 10 years time, the warm ocean current will begin to weaken by 33% when global warming reaches 2 Celsius, leaving much of northern Europe and indeed Ireland uninhabitable this century.
Pontes, G.M. and Menviel, L., 2024. Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation driven by subarctic freshening since the mid-twentieth century. Nature Geoscience, pp.1-8.
@Cole Palmer: Will there still be “countries” OR minorities? Love London, Love Paris, great cities… if we were concerned about anything regardless of your ideological preference then building is required. We’re not even providing for 20 years time yet ffs
@David Jordan: great post
@David Jordan: luckily this will cause a new ice age in north pole and northern Europe problem solved jus put in an offer on land near the equater instead of being bled dry here do something
“Friends of the earth” sounds like the name of a mad cult. Oh wait- that’s because it is.
@Sam Walsh: are they an NGO???
@Tommy: Just to point out that the report was not written by Friends of the Earth, though it was commissioned by them.
The report was written an independent judging committee, who included:
● Dr. Cara Augustenborg, Assistant Professor in Environmental Policy at UCD
Dr. Cara Augustenborg is an environmental scientist with a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Washington and both an MSc in Environmental Health Sciences and a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her doctoral research, conducted at Teagasc in County Wexford, Ireland, focused on nitrogen recycling for the sustainability of Irish agriculture. She has held post-doctoral research positions at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Business and University College Dublin’s School of Agriculture. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor in Landscape Studies and Environmental Policy at University College Dublin.
● Prof. Hannah Daly, Professor in Sustainable Energy at University College Cork
Professor Hannah E. Daly is a leading expert in sustainable energy and energy systems modelling. She earned her Ph.D. from University College Cork (UCC) in 2012, focusing on transport energy demand and climate policy scenarios for Ireland. Following her doctorate, she conducted postdoctoral research at the UCL Energy Institute, where she developed the UK TIMES Model (UKTM) and contributed to its adoption by the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change. From 2015 to 2019, she led energy access initiatives at the International Energy Agency, co-authoring the 2017 Energy Access Outlook report. In 2019, she joined UCC as a faculty member and was appointed Professor in Sustainable Energy in 2022. Her research encompasses energy access, climate change, and air pollution, and she actively engages with policymakers, civil society, and academia on these topics.
● Prof. Mary Murphy, Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University
Professor Mary Murphy is a distinguished academic in the Department of Sociology at Maynooth University, where she has been a faculty member since 2007. She earned her PhD in Politics from Dublin City University in 2006. Prior to her academic career, Professor Murphy spent two decades as a campaigner and policy analyst in national social justice NGOs, contributing to various national policy forums, including the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) and the National Economic and Social Council (NESC). Her research interests encompass eco-social policy, participation income, gender and social security, globalization and welfare states, and the dynamics of power and civil society. In 2020, she was appointed Professor, and in 2021, she became the Head of the Department of Sociology and the Centre for the Study of Politics at Maynooth University. An advocate for social justice and gender equality, Professor Murphy was appointed to the Council of State in 2019. She has also served as Chair of Oxfam Ireland’s Board, contributing to discussions on addressing global inequality. In May 2023, she published her book, “Creating an Ecosocial Welfare Future,” which explores transformative models of welfare change.
@David Jordan: Ah, David, there you go again! Here’s you with a sensible comment when it seems some people have never heard of Friends of the Earth, even though it was founded over 50 years ago.
Friends of the earth are a Dublin city ran organisation who don’t care about the rest of Ireland. All they care about is the Greedy Greens, they are just another Economic think tank to make sure we as taxpayers will never have money in the Rest of Ireland.
@Tommy: The irony of the Friends of the Earth, giving all the Far Left parties an A grade. I listened to Oisin O Coughlan being interviewed on radio one night & he was insisting we all drove EV’s, when the interviewer asked him what he drove, he said a Diesel saloon, laughable. The do as I say, but not as I do NGO who insist on inflicting hardship on struggling working families. This group shouldn’t be getting any State funding, bunch of hypocrites.
@Tommy: Friends of the Earth was founded in the US in about 1970.
Friends of the earth are NOT our friends. Utter woke posers!
@Njall: At least they were generous with the far left parties that would create and more inactivity and unemployment poverty. Massive idleness and time to study Marxist ideology. For them full employment and prosperity is preventing electoral power and needs to change. Living in the jungle is their dream and they will impose it on non comrades whether the like it or not.
This climate policy is a farce.
They could have retro fitted a lot of old people’s homes for the price of that bicycle shed. Total hypocrisy from our leaders. They can zoom all their meetings around the world from now on and put the money into retro fitting old houses. The greens have failed the Irish environment and our ecological breakdown is only accelerating. Bring back Seorse McHugh and the Just Transition crowd
We’e already going to miss our 2030 targets with the Greens in government and the bar was already set very low. Labour’s pledge in 2010 ‘Labour’s way or Franfurt’s way’, none of their pre-election promises can be trusted. The Carbon tax should be on the biggest polluters, the rich, not the ordinary person back the Greens were too spineless to do this, along with their government cohorts. Sinn Féin don’t oppose a carbon tax, the oppose a xarbon tax on the ordinary person. Remember Fine Gael let waste collection companies increase the price of recycling and they blame the ordinary person, just like the recession in 2008, also with the Greens in government.
At last that’s something those three can be proud of.
Who asked them to evaluate our government. The NGOs think they should dictate government policy. Who gave them a mandate to do that. NGO sector has far too much power in this country.
@Michael Cooney: Ah!
So you don’t believe in freedom of expression then.
At least not when it might hurt your fee-fees.
Friends of the earth my ass, shutting down valuable bogs for horticulture in Ireland. Now having to import peat, causing increased in costs and further pollution as peat has to be imported.
Pushing EV cars on us with dangerous lithium batteries, what about the poor minors lives in other countries having to mine this deadly stuff. Also the danger of having to bury mountains of dangerous batteries when they are no longer usable lithium will be getting into the soil and water.
Plastic containers now have to be brought to store for recycling using up valuable car fuel, when I have a perfectly good recycling bin at my front door. These so called friends of the earth is just another way of taxing the people. The Green party will never get a vote off me.
Shady non profit: Check
Globohomo art on their website: Check
Pushing UN sustainable development goals: Check
Published on the Journal: Check.
Conclusion: It’s more propaganda. How tiresome.
Don’t forget…no votes for Greens on Friday … ZERO VOTES !!!
@John Brown: no transfers this is wat got them in last time vote independent anybody but those greens
China , India, Morocco and Ukraine ..above All Most Gulf Area
Why ireland pay 3 billion ?
Saudi and UAE must pay whole Bill
3 billions can build hostels for homeless people, can buy LCD and heating solar panels for our schools ,can make better impact on smelly toilets at trains or broken toilets at terminal 1 Airport
@sakk sa: we need that 3 billion for refugees social welfare
@P. V. Aglue: social welfare not an option , Dutch system need it, work permit ,learn language, voluntary clean your 2 KM radar area you live at , or lose your tent and deportion!
“Friend’s of the Earth” LOL..
Why save a world that you can’t afford to live in, you may believe that to be ridiculous but people are struggling by now and the carbon tax is adding to that. Make the biggest polluters pay
@Brian D’Arcy: suppose it would impact the diesel laundering of your lot….
Without monetarily penalising people (which has zero impact on climate) and blaming the bovine population (placating the veg only/non dairy brigade), we as a nation do and have done for decades a lot more than other nations in terms of being climate friendly, long before climate became a vehicle for taking money from our pockets. FG love any method that means less cash for the constantly flogged taxpayer!
Like who are friends of the earth? Never heard them,
@Ned: As they have been around for half a century, that tells us a lot about you.
Are you competing to be a low-intelligence, low-information American?
Any time mother nature trys to sort things out.
All the do gooders turn up with the emergency food and medicines.
Fantastic
FFG allowing cargo plane load after cargo plane load of heavy duty Israeli Genocide weapons pass through our airports and air space daily add that in to the carbon footprint figures
@Kevin O Brien: wonderful that we are assisting in the war on terror :)
Friend of the leftist crazies.
Whenever Friends of the Earth say something is bad, usually it means that it’s good. Nevertheless, there is still too much being done on this farcical issue of no importance. If the next government had any sense, they would abolish the carbon tax, scrap all the “Net Zero” targets, permit fracked gas to be imported into Ireland, repeal the fuel tax and reopen offshore gas exploration. We need an explicitly pro-fossil fuel party in the Dáil and one which believes that people have the right to drive whatever car they wish without government interference. Friends of the Earth is just another busybody NGO that should be kicked out of the country and ignored. It is nothing more than a modern day form of racketeering.
The planet is grand, we are bunched…
A good reason to vote for Labour, Social Democrats, Greens and People Before Profit.
@Brendan O’Brien: It isn’t you paid little shill. As obvious as day. Sad clown.
@Brendan O’Brien: imagine that bunch of clowns trying to form a government, it would be like fawlty towers
@Brendan O’Brien: Greens/ frauds no thanks ,expensive sheds for their bikes.!!!!!!
@Brendan O’Brien: would you ever take a high jump
@Brendan O’Brien: You advocate a vote for the Greens and Labour, two parties that demand that tge ordinary person pays carbon taxes while PBP don’t, they demand that the biggest polluters pay tye carbon tax. No idea about the Social Democrats stand point on that. Most of them are on 5% so how would they form a government? Saoirse McHugh quite the Greens because of their socio-economic policies that are non-existent, no surprise that most of their candidates come from affluent areas because it’s nothing to them but everything to others. Confused at calling for a vote for the Greens and Labour because both will join Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or both.
@Brendan O’Brien: People like you are the problem with this country. Do you lack any semblance of common sense in that head of yours or do you enjoy paying more taxes because you are someone who has no clue how it actually impacts people other than yourself?
@Brian D’Arcy: Why should anyone have to pay a carbon tax and allow the government to steal more money? You are right that Labour and the Greens are left-wing taxpayer leeches, but PBP are even worse. They don’t think I have a right to private property, a right to make money and a right not to have the government steal even higher amounts of money from me through steeper taxation. They haven’t got a clue about basic economics and Rich Boy Barrett is the most out-of-touch elitist that I’ve ever come across. You’re right that the Greens are a shower of snobs, but so are PBP. Rich Boy and Paul Murphy both are private school products that haven’t worked a day in their lives and Mick Barry is a carpetbagger from Columbus, Ohio that grew up wealthy in Dublin. Don’t make me laugh!
The amount of people here who simply don’t care about the future is depressing. Big oil has been insanely successful with telling people the climate change is a myth
@FoxyBoiiYT: Cry harder you little clown.
Judging by the photos released
by the Gardia of the “Racist far right” protesters.
Looks more like the Brixton riots from the boy and girls in the photos
What’s left of humanity will look back at this period in history and say we were the first generation who could not save ourselves because it wasn’t cost effective
None of the top 4 on that chart will be in Govt, so it’s a pointless survey.
Any article on the immigration debate?
It’s comforting to see the LITTLE thug in Dublin getting what he deserves. Good riddance…
@Patrice Ahern: Yeah, great to see the white collar posh conman get sentenced.
Labour/Social Democrats might make an interesting government. Different, at least.
In fairness, Nessa clearly likes her Pudding.
have your say