O’Gorman open to Green alliance with Labour and Soc Dems

Green Party TD and leadership candidate Roderic O’Gorman has said he is “open” to forming an alliance with Labour and the Social Democrats – but only after the next general election.

In an interview with the Irish edition of The Times, O’Gorman said he is seeking talks with Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns over forming a “progressive alliance.”

The Dublin West TD and Minister for Integration said “after the general election I would like to see the parties of the centre-left, parties who are willing to take on the responsibility and the risks of going into government, to come together, to see is there an agreed set of principles that can be hammered out and use that, and use the strength of those greater numbers to secure a very strong programme for government from other political parties.”

At present, the parties have a combined 24 seats in the Dáil, which would go a long way to helping bigger parties reach the 88 seats needed for a Dáil majority.

He said, “our three parties could deliver more – but only if we form a progressive alliance after the general election, and I’d look to make sure that happens.”

In France’s upcoming snap general election, a broad leftist alliance consisting of the Socialist Party (Labour’s French counterparts) the French version of the Greens (EELV) and La France Insoumise, a left-wing populist party, are facing off against the right-wing National Rally party leaving Emmanuel Macron’s centrist En Marche party in a distant third.

In The Netherlands, last year’s general election and the recent European elections saw the Dutch Labour Party and the Dutch Green Party run on a joint list known as GroenLinks, finishing 2nd in the general election and won the most seats in the European elections.

Closer to home, a planned alliance between the three parties (as well as Sinn Féin) on Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council fell apart.

The combined vote share of Labour, the Greens and the Social Democrats in June’s local elections reached 12.3% nationally, more than Sinn Féin’s 11.8%.

On Dublin City Council, the combined vote share of the three parties hit 27.2%, enough for 22 seats.

On Dublin City Council, the proposed “progressive alliance” would have had enough for 31 seats, one shy of a majority, but Labour exited the talks over disagreements over Local Property Tax and the Greens similarly left the talks late into the process.

Newly-elected MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Labour leader Ivana Bacik have been among those in Labour calling for deeper co-operation among the left, and as far as the Greens are concerned, deputy leader contestant Neasa Hourigan has also called for more unity on the left.

Ó Ríordáin said, “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have decided to stop pretending that there’s any difference between them, and we need to stop pretending that there’s any difference between us.”

Hourigan said that the parties of the left “need to start talking about coalescing” ahead of the next general election.

However, rhetoric has not translated to the real world.

Labour and the Greens joined up with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to run Dublin City Council, to the ire of Social Democrats.

Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon accused Labour of acting as a “mudguard” for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on Dublin City Council and that Labour’s call for left unity are “hollow.”

On Fingal County Council, of which O’Gorman used to sit as a councillor, Labour opted to join up with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to run the county.

Social Democrats councillor Paul Mulville said “for the first time in Fingal County Council’s history, there was an opportunity for transparency and openness for the people of Fingal,” but Labour shot down any idea of a progressive alliance on Fingal County Council.

The Greens were reduced to just one seat on Fingal County Council, well down from their 5-seat haul in 2019.

O’Gorman’s own seat of Castleknock saw the Green share of the vote drop from 27% in 2019 to 7% in 2024, and similarly suffered major losses in fellow Dublin 15 constituency Ongar.

In the case of Castleknock, Labour was the major beneficiary of the Green vote flatlining, while in Ongar the Green vote went from 8.7% in 2019 to 2.3%.

In a separate interview, O’Gorman admitted that the Greens left it too late to select the right candidate.

Former councillor Daniel Whooley resigned from the seat in June 2023, but the seat was not filled until January 2024.

The results of the Green leadership race will be revealed on June 4th, in which O’Gorman will face off against Mayo Senator Pippa Hackett.