Green Party (Caldia)

Green Party An Páirtí Comhshaoil Na Glasaigh
Spokesperson	Colm Ó Corráin Ciara Nic Innes
Founded	1981
Youth wing	Young Greens
Membership (2017)	8,538
Ideology	Green politics
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Global Greens - Ecologists International
Euclean Parliament group	Green and Ecologist Movement
Euclean party	Euclean Greens - Ecologist Party
Colours	Green
Tionól	6 / 399
Euclean Parliament	0 / 20
Politics of Caldia Political parties

The Green Party (Ghaillish: An Páirtí Comhshaoil Na Glasaigh, literally "The Environmental Party the Greens", commonly referred to in Caldish as na Glasaigh or simply as G) is a political party in Caldia centered around green politics. The party holds six seats in the Comhthionól Náisiúnta and has representation in municipal and county governments. It is described by academics and the press as centre-left.

It was founded in 1981 and first entered the Comhthionól in the 1992 election. It has served in the Caldish government once, from 1997 to 2002. The party was the junior partner in Niamh Nic Uilliam's Social Democratic-led government. The parties ran an unsuccessful Red-Green electoral alliance in the 2017 election. More recently, the Green Party claims to distance itself from the other dominant right-wing and left-wing political blocs, jointly calling them the "petroleum block".

The Green Party is a member of the Euclean Green Party, which participates in the Green and Ecologist Movement alliance in the Euclean Parliament. It has close ties to other Green parties.

History

The Green Party was established in November 1981 and first stood in the 1982 election. It did not win any seats and received less than 1.5 percent of the national vote share. The party won its first election in the 1983 municipal elections. It entered the Comhthionól Náisiúnta for the first time in 1992 when it won six seats.

In 1997, the party won 11 seats and reached an agreement to enter a minority government with the Social Democratic Party. Niamh Nic Uilliam and her Green coalition partners relied on the Centre Party for confidence votes and the national budget. The Green Party was able to successfully pass new environmental protections and regulations for the Caldish petroleum industry.

Support for the Green Party steadily grew in the 2002 election, but began to drop in 2007. This trend continued in 2012, when the party only won 10 seats. In the run of to the 2017 election, the Green Party entered into an electoral alliance with the Social Democrats. The party's environmental stances caused controversy within the Social Democratic Party, with some concerned about the impact new regulations would have on industrial jobs. The Green Party won one additionally seat in 2017, but their alliance with the Social Democrats was unsuccessful.

During the government of Frank Casarnach, the Green Party was vocal in its opposition to government policy. They protested the appointment of Pádraig Mac Piarais as Minister of the Environment and Climate and held weekly rallies outside of his office. Mac Piarais reduced staff, cut regulations, and effectively eliminated his ministry's budget. Polling showed support for the party growing as high as 6 percent in 2018. The Green Party lost seats in the 2019 snap election where it received just over 3 percent of votes.

It has been critical of the Social Democratic government of Stiofán Mac Suibhne for not going far enough in its plans to fight climate change. The Green Party supports suspending further development of the Caldish petroleum industry.

Ideology

The Green Party is a part of the movement of ecologist and environmentalist parties. As a member of the Euclean Green Party, it supports social progressivism and pro-Eucleanism. The party primarily focuses on environmental issues over social ones. It supports policies that increase environmental protections and promotes ecological sustainability. The Green Party wants to reduce waste in the Caldish food system and strength the eco-friendly agricultural sector. It also wants to end the practice of whaling and favors reforms to the fishing industry to make it more eco-friendly.

The party was the first political party in Caldia to raise the issue of climate change, which has become a major policy issue for the party. It supports high taxes on products and practices that are environmentally harmful or unsustainable. In 2017, the party called for a climate tax on air travel.

The Green Party wants to reduce Caldish petroleum extraction as a way to fight climate change. It is critical of all other parties for failing to address Caldia's contributions to global warming. The party has proposed ending all extraction by 2050 by reducing it each year.

While the party does not prioritize social issues, it supports social progressivism and social justice. The Green Party is also widely supportive of immigrants and has proposed increasing the number of immigrants admitted annually to account for climate refugees.

Controversy

During the 2017 election, party spokesperson Gilleasbaig Mac Lughaidh was egged by demonstrators for his support for ending petroleum extraction. He demanded that police in Shanbally investigate the incident, claiming he was assaulted. The incident sparked controversy in Caldish newspapers, with Mac Lughaidh being criticized for calling for a police inquiry. He responded by calling his critics functionalists, for which he was condemned and later apologized for.

In October 2019, spokesperson Ciara Nic Innes accused the Mac Suibhne government of stealing the Green Party's policy proposals. Her claims were rebuked by the taoiseach and his supporters.

Leadership and organisation

Unlike other political parties in Caldia, the Green Party does not have a party leader in the traditional sense. It is led by the party's national executive committee, which has seven members. Members of the party's executive committee are elected by the membership. The committee selects two of its members to serve as national spokespersons for the Green Party. Currently, Colm Ó Corráin and Ciara Nic Innes serve as national spokespersons. The national leadership is elected each year at the party's annual convention.

The party also organizes at a regional, county, and local level. These organizations elect their own leadership committees and each have two spokespersons, replicating the national leadership model.

Electoral results

Comhthionól Náisiúnta

Election year	Votes	%	# of overall seats won	+/-	Government
1982	56,819	1.08 (#6)	9 / 399	New	extra-parliamentary opposition to Liberty government
1987	101,891	1.90 (#6)	12 / 399		extra-parliamentary opposition to Liberty government
1992	165,400	3.03 (#6)	6 / 399	6	in opposition to Social Democratic government
1997	293,875	5.17 (#6)	11 / 399	5	in government as junior coalition partner to Social Democrats
2002	394,244	6.77% (#6)	16 / 399	5	in opposition Liberty government
2007	396,660	6.10 (#7)	13 / 399	3	in opposition to Liberty-Centre government
2012	328,764	4.84 (#6)	10 / 399	3	supporting Liberty-Centre minority government
2017	368,662	5.46 (#7)	11 / 399	1	in opposition Liberty-Centre-DG government
2019	193,086	3 (#6)	6 / 399	5	in opposition to Social Democratic government

Euclean Parliament

Election year	Votes	%	# of overall seats won	+/-	Government
2019	160,146	3.23 (#7)	0 / 20	-	extra-parliamentary opposition