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THE NEWLY ELECTED Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman said he would not be proposing a Cabinet reshuffle of his party’s ministers, meaning Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin will remain in their current roles.
His contender for the leadership Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Pippa Hackett and the other Green junior ministers such as Malcolm Noonan, Ossian Smyth and Joe O’Brien, will also remain in their current posts.
O’Gorman said he is “extremely confident” in the expertise and the knowledge of the Green Party ministers.
“They’ve all done amazing work in their individual departments,” he said.
“So, I won’t be proposing a cabinet reshuffle or indeed any reshuffle of the Green ministers or ministers of state. We have an amazing team and we’re going to use that team to deliver for us into the last months of government and into delivering a powerful manifesto and a powerful general election campaign when that election is held,” he said.
Speaking to the media after he was announced the new leader, O’Gorman said he wants to see the government going the full term.
He also outlined some of his priorities for the months ahead, stating that he wants to invest more in childcare, something he will have to push for in the run up to this year’s budget.
O’Gorman said he will shortly seek government approval to ratify the Optional Protocol on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, stating that at “long last”, it will fully vindicate the rights of people with disabilities in this country.
He added that he also wants to legislate to allow women with serious illnesses to delay their maternity leave, something a number of opposition parties have been calling for.
Hate speech legislation is also something the new Green Party leader wants to see progressed.
“I want to do more to ensure the state protects the safety of minorities within our communities by legislating to outlaw for hate crimes,” he said.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee has indicated she’s looking to bring forward some amendments to the legislation that deal with some concerns that have been raised.
The legislation received strong support in the Dáil, with O’Gorman stating that it is really important that the legislation is brought to the Seanad early in the autumn term.
On the issue of migration, O’Gorman said if someone is saying something he disagrees with politically, he will strongly advocate for his position
“And if someone is saying something that is factually wrong, I will never be afraid to call that out,” he said, adding that in particular, debates on the issues of migration can be “deeply, deeply frustrating”.
He said the debate on migration has to be one that is based on facts.
“It can’t be on the basis of ‘this one thing I saw on Facebook one time’, which unfortunately too often is the standard of debate that we’re seeing in Dail Eireann right now,” said O’Gorman, who was then applauded by his party members.
With the summer economic statement due to be published this week, O’Gorman said he doesn’t want the next budget to be about “pre-election giveaways”, stating instead it has to be about serious and significant investment in public services.
O’Gorman also put his coalition parties on notice today by stating that after the next general election, he will be speaking with other left parties, before his party will speak with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
“In a post-election scenario, yes, I would speak to progressive parties initially,” he confirmed.
While he said there has been a “good working arrangement” with the coalition partners, it is the policies contained in the programme for government that are the priority for the Greens.
“What we’re most interested in is the programme, is the policies contained in there, and if we can get more Green Party policies, progressive policies in a programme for government, we will always work to achieve that,” he said.
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……. and the Titanic sails on…….
It will sail on another 5 years at the minimum. Despite the vocal outrage, FFG and Greens are on 48% which is enough to form a govt after transfers are counted. They govt has the silent support
@9QRixo8H: do you ever give it a rest, don’t believe everything the Indo spouts out.
@silvery moon: You honestly think FFG aren’t going to govern after the next election? Get real.
@silvery moon: its not just the indo though is it. If the local election results are to be believed, which they should be as they are the last poll of the people, a Fine Gael Fianna Fail Green coalition seems like the most likely government following the election.
@pat d: Its difficult to call considering the results of the local elections were almost a carbon copy of the previous local elections in 2019 yet in the general election that followed in 2020 only a year later FF & FG fared quite bad resulting in them having to form a coalition for the first time since we became a free state, nobody saw that coming.
Mean while children are not getting, scoliosis surgeries.
@pat d: fg won’t have many of its,sitting tds in next election.
That will have a huge impact.
@Brian Hunt: and on and on and on.
@9QRixo8H: you believe what ever you want, but FFG lost seats in the local elections, and those votes went to independence. I’m around long enough and am very good friends with some very popular local councillors and the one thing I do know is that parish pump politics are alive and well in the local elections and people vote for the devil they know very different game for a GE.
@pat d: only poll that matters is the on one on election day, Local elections are all about the local man/woman parish pump politics GE are very different.
Goodby green party
No contact with waterways Ireland- sound familiar for a green- wasn’t Martin asleep on the job too?
The electorate will reshuffle them in a few months.
@Dougal:
That is by no means certain.
We certainly could do with change but if I was a betting man I’d say FFG will be back, possibly with different junior partners.
@P. J.: FFG and a group of independents
O’Gorman where are the 39 missing children? and how come a child went missing for 12 months and turned up in a brothel?
He is destroying our Country and culture all in one go.
@silvery moon: and why is CHI not investigated.
For f sack
Wipe out for the green party soon
The Green agenda from United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Ottmar Edenhofer an IPCC official speaking in November 2010, Announced we has to free oneself from the illusion that climate policy is environmental policy. Instead, The climate change policy is about how we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth…”
Minister of Disabilities, Children.and anything else,
You care to write.
Yes hasn’t done a tap, tulsa in news again,chi too. Operations for profit on kids.
But he is doing a great job.
If these were your kids, grand kids, would you vote him in.
@Colette Byrne: Wouldn’t let him near my kids.
He wants the government to go the full term because that’s how long he will be around.
Cork bus station branded ‘a disgrace’ but upgrade due 2026. Headline in Cork Echo this evening.
City Bus Terminal is absolutely filthy and not fit for purpose. Our Hero Ryan wants all on Buses. We are to use this disgusting building. He’s might have funds in 2 years time to upgrade the building. Unbelievable!!.
If he spent less paining lines on overcrowded roads for bus lanes. Less money on unused bike lanes. We might have a usable Bus Terminal. It beggars belief. The Folly of this Guy knows no bounds!!!!!!!
The Green Party have made a big mistake , electing again a man in a grey suit. The buzzword is change but not in the GP
have your say