A brief history of the party

To achieve this aim, Fettes issued invitations to a meeting to form a Green Party, which was held on 3 December, 1981 in the Central Hotel, Dublin. The invitation included a list of proposed aims, including:

1. A steady state economy to replace unlimited economic growth
2. A non-exploitive but more fruitful relationship with the natural environment
3. The provision of a basic income to all
4. A decentralised and economically self-sufficient way of life, giving a maximum of freedom to individuals and a minimum of power to central government".

Of the 80 people who attended a majority were in favour of creating a political party and the Ecology Party of Ireland, (EPI) was born. A steering committee of 12 was elected and membership was approximately 40 for the first few months. The initial structure of the EPI was conventional, being based on branches like the other Irish political parties. This traditional organisation was in part put forward with political registration in mind.

While the EPI was too young for the unexpected general election of February 1982 the steering committee issued some leaflets announcing the party's existence and promising the voters the opportunity of being able to support ecology candidates at the next election. In March the Party held its first convention at the Glencree Reconciliation Centre in Wicklow and it was here that the seven principles of the party were agreed by consensus.

These principles still serve the Green Party to the present and are published here:

The EPI found itself facing into a general election in November, 1982 and having already given the commitment mentioned above to contest the next election the party decided to put up seven candidates. The candidates polled 0.2% of the national vote and an average of 1.3% in the constituencies contested.

1983 saw the EPI change its name its name to the Green Alliance/Comhaontas Glas and it was under this title that Christopher Fettes contested the 1984 European election, standing in Dublin. He managed to poll 1.9% of the vote, (0.3% nationally). Along with the new name came organisational change. The old structure of the EPI did not correspond to green notions of grass-roots democracy and it was dropped in favour of an alliance of autonomous groups. With some modifications this is still the basic structure of the party.

The following year's local elections gave the party its first electoral success when Marcus Counihan was elected to Killarney Urban District Council. Overall, and with 34 candidates (28 of whom stood in Dublin), the Greens won 0.6% of the national vote.

The Party experienced a minor split in 1986 on whether it should be a campaigning movement or concentrate its energies on the electoral process. A few favoured the former and left the party while the remaining majority concentrated on electoral politics. The next electoral test was the 1987 general election where the Party scored 0.4% of the national vote and, although down on their 1985 vote the result was achieved with only 9 candidates. In 1987 (following a proposal from John Gormley TD) the Party changed its name to the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas to help end public confusion over whether it was a political organisation or not.

The new name came just in time for the electoral breakthrough of 1989 when Roger Garland became the Party's first TD, representing Dublin South. In all the Green Party contested 11 constituencies in the June 1989 general election, 10 in Dublin plus Kildare. The Party also contested the Dublin and Leinster constituencies in the European election held the same day. In the Munster constituencies the Greens supported the People First candidate, Joe Noonan.

The success of Roger Garland was built on with the election of 13 councillors in the June 1991 Local Elections. Four seats were won on Dublin Corporation, six on Dublin County Council and one each on Cork Corporation, Wicklow and Kildare Co. Councils. On Dublin Corporation the Greens formed a governing coalition, the Civic Alliance, to run the capital city. Things however did not run entirely smoothly as Councillor Richard Greene resigned from the party early in 1992. An unexpected general election followed in November 1992 and Roger Garland lost his Dublin South seat but this was balanced by the election of Trevor Sargent for Dublin North.

In June 1994 the Party pulled off a major achievement with the election of two MEPs (out of 15) to the European Parliament. Patricia McKenna topped the poll in Dublin with 14.5% of the first preference vote, and Nuala Ahern got 11.8% in Leinster, enough to secure the final seat. Overall the party received 7.9% nationally, putting it in fourth place behind Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The party also made important gains in the Urban District Council elections held the same day. That same month, Dublin City Council elected Cllr John Gormley as the first Green Lord Mayor of Dublin. These successes continued with the Cork bye-elections in October 1994 where Cllr Dan Boyle, although failing to gain a seat, received 16% of the poll in Cork South Central. In May 1997 John Gormley joined Trevor Sargent in the Dáil when he was elected for Dublin South East having endured a marathon week-long count to defeat Michael McDowell of the PDs by twenty seven votes.

An even greater achievement was recorded in the 1999 European Elections when Patricia McKenna and Nuala Ahern successfully defended their European Parliament seats. Patricia McKenna took the third seat in Dublin with 12.7% and Nuala Ahern did even better taking the second seat in Leinster with 13.78%.

The 1999 Local Election Results were a mixed bag. Although the Party's vote, at 2.4% nationally, remained the same as 1991, the figures failed to produce the seats expected. There were some notable successes though – Mary White with an excellent 23%, topped the poll ahead of Fianna Fail in Borris, Carlow as did Eamon Ryan in Rathmines, Dublin and Paul Gogarty in Lucan, County Dublin.

While the achievement of the Party and its MEPs to retain their two European seats was widely reported as a major success, the failure to make substantial gains in the 1999 local elections was a wake-up call. Shortly after the 1999 Local Elections a strategy was put in place to restructure the party and this included the election of a Leader, Deputy Leader and Chairman and the targeting of seats for the next General Election.

At the 2001 Annual Convention in Kilkenny Trevor Sargent was elected Party Leader and Cllr Mary White was elected Deputy Leader. In early 2002 John Gormley was elected Chairman of the Party.

By election year 2002 the party had completed phase one of its restructuring and had made the necessary changes internally to focus on gaining seats in the forthcoming election. While a cautious approach was taken when asked to make predictions by the media, the party had targeted seven seats - Dublin North, Dublin South East, Dublin South, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin Mid West, Cork South Central and Carlow Kilkenny.

The party finally made the breakthrough it had hoped for at the 2002 General Election increasing its Dáil seats from two to six trebling its representation. The carefully laid plans finally came to fruition with six of the seven targeted seats reaping rewards while Deputy Leader, Cllr Mary White only barely missed out on taking a seat in Carlow Kilkenny. In many ways the election of Paul Gogarty in Dublin Mid West was the real story of the Greens 2002 election success for no small party in recent history has ever taken a seat in a three seat constituency.

The six TDs are Trevor Sargent (Dublin North), John Gormley (Dublin South East), Dan Boyle Cork South Central), Eamon Ryan (Dublin South) , Ciarán Cuffe (Dun Laoghaire) and Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West).

In General Elections of May 2007 Mary White joined Trevor, John, Paul, Eamon and Ciarán in the Dáil. Unfortunately Dan Boyle was not re-elected. After negotiations the Party entered government in coalition with Fianna Fáil and with the support of the Progressive Democrats, and a number of Independent TDs. John Gormley was appointed Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Eamon Ryan was appointed Minister for Communications Energy and Natural resources, and Trevor Sargent was appointed Minister of State for Food and Horticulture. Dan Boyle and Deirdre de Burca were appointed as senators in the Irish Parliament's second chamber.