Children’s minister Roderic O’Gorman announces Green Party leadership bid

Minister for Children and Integration Roderic O’Gorman has announced he will run to become the next leader of the Green Party.

It comes a day after Eamon Ryan said he would be stepping down as party leader.

In a post addressed to party members on X, formerly Twitter, Mr O’Gorman said: “Today, I ask for your nominations to stand as a candidate in the leadership election that now arises.

“I’ve been active in this party for a long time, a member for 24 years, I’ve served eight years as party chair and fought in 10 elections.

“In all that time, two beliefs have always stayed with me. Firstly, we must have a strong Green Party in Ireland to put the environment at the centre of public discussion and of political decision-making.

“No other party prioritises attention on climate breakdown and nature loss like the Green Party.

“No other party has brought these issues to the heart of Government.

“Secondly, the party will only build political strength if voters know that we can deliver change across all of the issues that are important to people.”

Deputy leader Catherine Martin also announced she will “step back” from her role, adding that she is not putting herself forward for the leadership contest.

The party is one of the three Government coalition partners, and suffered a poor performance at the local and European elections earlier this month, which saw the Greens lose both of their MEP seats.

Earlier, Green minister Pippa Hackett received the backing of TD Ossian Smyth and Senator Pauline O’Reilly.

Ms Hackett, who has not declared her intention to run for leadership, received the public endorsement within 24 hours of Mr Ryan confirming he was stepping down.

Speaking on Morning Ireland on Wednesday, Mr Smyth said he hopes to be a future leader of the party but will not join the contest this time.

He also said the Green Party needs to be relevant outside Dublin.

“I think the party needs a big change,” he said. “There’s this narrative that the Green Party is in opposition to rural Ireland and it’s not true and we need to counter that very clearly.

“Our last three leaders of the Green Party have been all from Dublin and I think that we need to make sure that we are clearly relevant outside of Dublin as well.

“We managed to top the poll in several Dublin constituencies recently in local elections and I kept all my councillors in Dun Laoghaire – six – but in other areas we lost all of our seats in some counties.

“Although it was a sad and poignant moment yesterday to have Eamon leaving after 13 years, it is an opportunity for change and we need something completely different.”

He added: “Pippa Hackett is an agriculture minister, she is a beef and sheep farmer from Offaly, she’s been sitting at the Cabinet table for the last four years and making decisions on every aspect in running the country and I think that she is the person to lead the party, and she hasn’t said she would but, if she’s listening now, I would like her to consider running.

“If she does agree to run, then I would be willing to run as deputy leader alongside her.”

Mr O’Reilly told Virgin Media that having Ms Hackett lead the party would counter the view that the Green Party does not understand rural Ireland.