Lúnasa '94 Lúnasa '94There are those who believe that the Green Party stands in a specific relationship to the green movement in Ireland, and those who believe that the Green Party ought, in some sense, to be the green movement. Whatever your view on this issue, it is an extremely important one for all those engaged in green politics; increased elected representation demands clarification of who, exactly, we represent. However, we must quickly dispel the myth that the green movement is a homogenous, evenly distributed and interconnected social phenomenon, and on the other side, recognise that political success has transformed the Green Party's perception of its own place in Irish politics.
When we stand in elections, we represent something called 'grassroots' interests, in a way, we assume, that other political parties do not. In practice, however, the green movement is anything but an unified grassroots activity - it is a socially and politically fragmented series of environmental 'events'. This is not intended as a criticism of environmental activism, but we should recognise that substantial organisation and networking of the environmental groups has yet to be undertaken, and that the authorship of this new identity, should it come into existence, is anything but obvious. Is it the function of the Green Party to organise the green movement, or merely to support it, and perhaps even use it for political gain?
If we were to truly stand in a unique relationship with the green movement, then the Irish Ecology Party would have emerged from the considerable grassroots environmental activism of the '70's. Yet since the emergence of An Comhaontas Glas, green political, as opposed to environmental, work has gone on largely in isolation, and certainly without any structured dialogue. The challenge to the Green Party in any representative capacity is to set about nurturing increasingly vulnerable community groups engaged in ecological debate and, above all, to remain faithful to that identity. In doing so, the Party is in a position to provide an intelligent forum for political debate as well as sharing its new found status of influence with those communities we would like to think of ourselves as representing.
It is worth stressing, however, that there is a difference between geographically-based and interest-based groupings not simply in terms of how their respective political messages are heard, but also in terms of their capacity to generate funds, support and activity. Locally-based groups often work without access to resources or information regarding their campaigns, and sometime "NIMBifY" their cause of complaint. In stark contrast, special interest groups have a national or global perspective, generally good communication skills and have more political clout as a result. Yet a central green platform is the promise of local enterprise linked to increased access to information, democracy and social justice. Just how carefully we listen to what is happening in our back yards will gauge the success of our efforts, rather than point to a loose affiliation with lobby groups where and when it is deemed politically appropriate.
Sadhbh O'Neill is Green Party councillor for Donaghmede
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