Green leader Roderic O’Gorman took to Reddit recently to discuss his time in government – and dispel some myths around the party.
Reddit has become a popular destination for Irish political parties in the wake of Twitter’s right-wing takeover and Facebook’s light-handed approach to content moderation, which favours populists.
In an “Ask Me Anything” session on the Ireland subreddit, the Dublin West TD discussed the realities of government, the success of their sister party in the United Kingdom and his thoughts on the mooted left-wing alliance.
One question asked, “having been in government, can you enlighten us as to why everything the government touches seems to be run so inefficiently?”
O’Gorman replied, “I think part of this is the consequences of the crash, where capital investment ended up being dropped by the wayside, and part of it is the way we budget (annually rather than multi-annually).”
“There have been some obvious clangers in terms of public procurement in recent years, some absolutely massive (Children’s Hospital), some smaller but no less frustrating (bike shed). If people think their money is being wasted, the social contract starts to fray, and their belief in a policy of good shared public services over individualism tends to dissipate,” he noted.
The Green TD noted that “good project management and procurement is a bit like a good goalkeeper – you don’t really tend to notice them as much when they are doing their job, so there is a confirmation bias involved here where we only tend to notice projects when they’re going really badly wrong.”
O’Gorman served as Minister for Integration in the last government, and said “the public discussion on immigration seems to me to often lump everything into one group and say ‘there’s too many”. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask the question of how we manage migration to this country, and in answering it, we must stick to the facts.”
He stated, “economically, we absolutely need people to come to Ireland. There is no question about that, and it’s not going to change. Our policy should be to do that in a way that best benefits us, but is also fair to those who want to come here, and their families.”
“We have our own history of economic migration, which I think we’ve sometimes forgotten recently.”
O’Gorman also said that the right-wing conspiracy theory that he “invited migrants to Ireland in 8 languages” is “a bunch of horses**t.”
He explained, “In 2021, when I was Minister for Integration, my Department published a White Paper on ending Direct Provision. As Minister, I tweeted about the announcement in Irish, English, and 6 other of the most commonly spoken languages by people in Direct Provision at the time, as the White Paper was directly relevant to those already living in the Direct Provision system.”
He noted “the unwinding of Direct Provision was, however, predicated on pre-2022 numbers for International Protection applications in Ireland,” and that the war in Ukraine made it “impossible” to wind down Direct Provision.
The recent success of Zack Polanski’s Green Party in England and Wales led to people asking if the Irish Greens can follow suit.
Polanski’s charismatic brand of “eco-populism” has piled on the pain for Keir Starmer’s Labour, with the Greens tipped to make major gains in London, Scotland and Wales in May’s local elections.
O’Gorman said, “I think we can learn a lesson from our colleagues in the Green Party of England and Wales on speaking directly and honestly to the problems people are facing, and tackling them head on.”
He conceded, “as Greens, we can sometimes be too focused on getting the policy done and not giving enough time to really communicate with people where they are.”
“With that being said, I think too much can be made of how ‘different’ the Irish Greens and the Green Party in England and Wales are. In reality, our overall philosophy is the same, and our policies are also extremely similar.”
He said the Greens’ explosive success in the UK comes with caveats, explaining, “they are in opposition in a country where an ostensibly centre-left party (Labour) has a majority government and is making a mess of things. In this context, Green policy is really able to stand out and shine as an alternative to what has gone before (and a strong alternative to the miserable, mean-minded offering of Reform UK).”
The Greens backed Catherine Connolly in her successful presidential bid last year, along with other parties of the left.
The rare instance of left unity led to questions about whether a similar trick can be repeated in the next general election.
O’Gorman was asked about the Greens’ backing of Connolly and noted, “support for Catherine (Connolly) wasn’t universal. She’s had a lengthy political career, and she took a few chunks out of myself and many of my Green colleagues, particularly during our time in government.”
He said that the party backing Connolly was “the right decision, as shown by the strong mandate President Connolly received in the Presidential election,” saying he was “very proud that one of her first major speeches as president was on the issue of climate.”
On the prospect of a left government, O’Gorman noted “as a Green, I obviously have a lot more in common with certain parties, and it’s a good thing to see them adopting some long-standing Green policies too.”
“Now that I am in opposition, I’ve worked and collaborated with most of the opposition parties on various issues, and I actually sit in a Technical Group with PBP / Solidarity TDs and Independents.”
He noted “all parties have their differences and government formation really comes down to a mathematical question; can you make up the numbers, and after that can you agree on a programme for government. It would certainly be easier to create a PfG with some parties over others, but we have to get the numbers right to make that even possible.”
One user asked, “are the parliamentary party meetings fierce quiet these days?”
Deadpan is hard to carry over text, but O’Gorman’s reply was classic deadpan.
He replied, “no, I love shouting at myself in the mirror.”