Rolling back sustainability agenda would be bad for Ireland, says O’Gorman

Rolling back Ireland‘s sustainability commitments would be bad for the country’s reputation as a location for foreign direct investment, the head of the country’s Green Party, Roderic O’Gorman TD, has said.

O’Gorman was commenting at a press conference to coincide with the European Greens Congress, which took place in Dublin, and on the back of a dismal Irish general election performance for the Greens, which lost 11 of their 12 seats nationwide.

“The sustainability agenda is really important to a lot of businesses, and that’s why we see many here in Ireland taking it on and using it as part of how they advertise and market themselves,” O’Gorman explained.

“On an individual basis, companies will [reassess their sustainability commitments], at their own peril. But on a national basis, if we, through rolling back or diluting legislation, allow for that to happen, I think it’s bad for the country.”

Sustainability investment

According to O’Gorman, there are “large sectors” within the business community that have taken advanage of investments in sustainability in recent years, citing the recent retrofit scheme to support SMEs to improve energy efficiency and save costs.

He added that he was pleased that there was some degree of positive consumer and business sentiment about the Green Party as a “party that wanted to help businesses make that change”, rather than one that “was wagging its finger at business and saying it’s all about regulation, regulation, regulation”.

The next government

Nonetheless, O’Gorman admitted that the party had had a “really difficult week”, with the process of rebuilding the party already under way.

He issued a word of advice to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the two biggest parties in Ireland, with discussions over the formation of a new government taking place, noting that there “is an opportunity for a progressive government to come from this election” through working alongside Labour or the Social Democrats as junior partners, rather than taking a regressive step.

The alternative, as I flagged during the election, is a government that is supported by more right-leaning, populist independents,” O’Gorman commented. “We know from what they’ve said in the last four years, and from what they did in the previous four years when some of them were part of the last government, that they will not deliver on climate action. They will take us backwards, and some of them are deeply sceptical of the measures that need to be taken.”

Irish politics, he added, faces a “real fork in the road moment”. Read more here. [Photo ©️ European Greens / Margot L’Hermite]