A Government made up of only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would do less to tackle climate change, Roderic O’Gorman has warned. 

With election fever heating up in Leinster House, the Dublin West TD has pledged to put reducing carbon emissions at the heart of the Green Party’s offer to the electorate. 

On The Anton Savage Show, Minister O’Gorman said the current coalition has made some positive changes but insisted that the Green Party deserves most of the credit. 

“I feel it’s been a good Government because of the Green Party’s participation in it,” he said. 

“I think as we come towards an election, it is important for our party and for me as leader of the party, to assert what we have done over the last four and a half years and the difference that we’ve made.”

Simon Harris, Micheál Martin and Roderic O'Gorman. Picture by: REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool

In the 2020 General Election, the Greens won 12 seats on a record 7% of the vote - but the polls suggest the party has lost support since then. 

In contrast, under Simon Harris’ leadership, support for Fine Gael has surged and the party is increasingly optimistic it can gain seats.  

If so, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil might even be able to form a Government without the Greens - a scenario Minister O’Gorman hopes can be avoided. 

“I think that a Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, maybe propped up by a couple of independents, if that had taken place in 2020 the last four years would have been very different,” he said. 

“So, I think it’s really important for me as party leader to talk about what the Green Party have delivered in Government over the last four and a half year period.” 

Lost voters

Minister O’Gorman said most of the people who voted for the party in 2020 are “policy focused” and would respond positively to the party’s manifesto. 

“I think Green Party voters, those we lost in the European and local elections, will come back to us,” he said. 

“They will see what the alternatives look like as a potential Government without the Green Party where we don’t see a focus on climate or on families and supporting children.” 

Minister O’Gorman stressed he has a “very good relationship” with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and acknowledged their desire to reduce carbon emissions. 

However, he also claimed there is no “appetite for the scale of change needed” within the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parliamentary parties. 

“We have to make these big changes to our economy and our society to [cut] our carbon emissions but Government has to be helping people every step of the way,” Minister O’Gorman said. 

“Whether it’s cutting the cost of public transport like Eamon Ryan did, whether it’s making retrofits more affordable, whether it’s supporting our farmers with new income streams when they’re undertaking new environmentally sustainable activities. 

“We as a Government have to help people make that big change.”

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Main image: Roderic O'Gorman. Picture by: Newstalk.