Opinion

Elaine Byrne: Greens are a shrewd, effective party but have yet to convince voters

Green ideas are easy to spot in government policy because they are smart, imaginative and new – but so far the party has not been rewarded with public support

Eamon Ryan, Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment Climate and Communications. Party is failing to translate effective governance into votes. Picture: Collins Photos

In a recent contribution to the Dáil, Green Minister of State Ossian Smyth drolly thanked Michael Healy-Rae for his “complimentary comments about the Green Party and its achievements in government”.

There may, of course, have been more than a touch of irony by Healy-Rae when he lamented that “the Greens are doing exactly what they’d said they do, they're even doing more than what they said they do”. The independent Kerry TD went on to ...