Minister of State Senator Pippa Hackett has told Green Party members that the party has an image problem and is regarded by many ordinary people as Dublin centric, out of of touch and elitist.
She told the second hustings in the party leadership campaign that the Green Party has hurt people by telling them they are leading bad lives if they burn turf and that the party has to build bridges to connect with people who cannot see past turf or cycle lanes.
She said she is at ease talking to many different types of people in many different types of context.
Ms Hackett is running against Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman to succeed Eamon Ryan as leader of the Green Party.
Members will vote online from 4-7 July with the result to be announced on Monday 8 July.
Minister Roderic O’Gorman told the hustings that the Green Party needs to be confident in its achievements.
He set out three key reasons for why he is runnning for leadership of the party.
He said while the local and European electiion results were a blow, he is not prepared to manage decline or accept defeat.
Mr O’Gorman said while canvassing during those elections, he saw that climate is not on the political agenda in the way it was in 2020.
He said the Green Party must engage with voters on the issues they bring to the party.
He said he knows how to run campaigns and he would invest more in research and focus groups, not to abandon the party’s principles but to shape its message better.
Mr O’Gorman told the hustings that he knows what it is to have a tough job and deliver and he has delivered cheaper childcare, overcome years of legal pushback to allow adopted people get their information and he has housed 100,000 people fleeing war, all while being a hate figure for the far right.
He said he was involved with weekly meetings with finance meetings and he knows how tough they are and how the process the works.
