Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has hit out at government coalition colleagues who he claimed launched a “systemic attack” on his party during the course of the local and European election campaigns.
“We were subject to huge attack,” the Climate Minister said on RTÉ Prime Time while analysing the election results.
“Just about every other party was out there blaming us for just about every woe you could think of. And that does make a difference – that makes it hard if people are depicting you that way.”
Interviewer Sarah McInerney put it to Ryan that some of these attacks had come from the Green Party’s government coalition partners in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Specifically she pointed to Fine Gael Senator and MEP candidate Regina Doherty saying that Ryan’s party had done more harm than good to the green agenda, by running an “autocratic” style of government and “talking down to people.” Similar criticisms had also been levelled by Fianna Fáil candidates Lisa Chambers and Barry Cowen.
Ryan strongly rebuffed these criticisms from his government colleagues, saying that these accusations were untrue and simply being made to achieve an “electoral advantage.”
“It’s not acceptable,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s good in a coalition government when parties look for their electoral advantage by tackling colleagues with accusations that aren’t true. We’re not autocratic; we are democratic. We believe in the constitutional democratic process. We work well in coalition.”
He added: “We’re not out there lambasting our colleagues or making personal attacks on government colleagues, so I think that’s totally inappropriate and wrong.”
Ryan further said that he had held a private conversation with the other two coalition party leaders about this matter, and that while you “can’t completely control” your own party members’ statements, he was “sure that won’t happen again” in the upcoming General Election.
“People in our own party have said things that I regret they might have said, but not that sort of systemic attack for electoral gain,” he said.
“It undermines the need we have for making the changes. These are positive changes that would be good for our country. When you depict it as the last thing that Ireland wants, I don’t agree with that.
“But it did impact us, and we do have to reflect on that as well as listening to the other lessons from the count.”