THE GREEN PARTY has proposed the direct election of a ‘citizens assembly’ which would then draft a new Constitution for the country if it is returned to government.

At the launch of the party’s election manifesto, ‘Renewing Ireland’, leader John Gormley said the party wanted to see the country adopt a new constitution “for a vastly different Ireland”.

The formulation of that new constitution would be put in the hands of a directly-elected assembly of 40 people, elected by a nationwide vote. The plan would only be carried out, however, if an initial public referendum to back it was passed.

Among the reforms the party would want to see enacted, whether through the assembly or otherwise, were the shrinking of the Dáil to 120 members, with sixty elected via a party list system.

Defending his party’s record in the previous government, Gormley said his party was the only one to have planned for “an economy with jobs not dependent on the boom-bust property bubble”, and that the party’s policies had brought about 20,000 “green economy” jobs.

If the policy foundations laid down by the party were brought to fruition, he added, Ireland could become entirely independent of oil within two decades.

The party also proposes a ‘micro tax’ on financial transactions, which it believes could fund social projects, and wants to use €500m of the state’s pension reserve fund to retrofit insulation in a million homes.

The Greens also want to introduce new reforms requiring political parties to include female candidates as 40 per cent of their total for future elections – though only seven of the Greens’ own 43 candidates this year are women.

The party’s manifesto can be read in full at its website.