Green Party Northern Ireland

The Green Party Northern Ireland (Irish: Comhaontas Glas Thuaisceart Éireann), sometimes abbreviated as Green Party NI,^[7] is a political party in Northern Ireland. Like many green political parties around the world, its origins lie in the anti-nuclear, labour and peace movements of the 1970s and early 1980s.

Green Party Northern Ireland Comhaontas Glas Thuaisceart Éireann
Leader	Mal O'Hara
Deputy Leader	Lesley Veronica
Preceded by	Green Party (UK)[1]
Headquarters	Bangor
Youth wing	Young Greens
LGBT wing	Queer Greens
Membership (2020)	c. 700–800[2][3][4]
Ideology	Green politics[5] Nonsectarianism
National affiliation	Green Party (Ireland)
European affiliation	European Green Party
European Parliament group	Greens–European Free Alliance
International affiliation	Global Greens
Colours	Green and   blue[6]
House of Commons (NI Seats)	0 / 18
NI Assembly	0 / 90
NI Local Councils	5 / 462
Website
www.greenpartyni.org
Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections

Since 2006, the party has operated as a region of the Green Party of Ireland^[8] and also maintains links with other Green parties, including the Scottish Greens and the Green Party of England and Wales.^[9] The party has a youth wing operating in Northern Ireland, the Young Greens. The party also has LGBT policies and an activist group operating in Northern Ireland, the Queer Greens.

History

In the Northern Ireland local elections of May 1981, Peter Emerson, Avril McCandless and Malcolm Samuels stood as the first candidates to use the Ecology label in Northern Ireland and gained 202, 81 and 61 votes respectively; the first in a large urban area, the other two in smaller rural constituencies. Emerson had previously stood in the same area in 1977.^[10]

In May 1983, the Northern Ireland Ecology Party was launched at a press conference held in the Europa Hotel, Belfast, with members of the British and Irish Ecology parties in attendance. At the same time, the three parties put forward one combined policy on Northern Ireland, the first time that UK and Irish political parties had held a common Northern Ireland policy.^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, ecology parties throughout the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom changed their names to Green Party.

The party became a region of the Green Party of Ireland in 2006.^[8][9] These arrangements are said to demonstrate the Northern Ireland party's cross-community nature, as the Green Party claim to be the only party that actually lives the Good Friday Agreement through its operational set up through north–south and east–west links.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, a Green society was established at Queen's University Belfast.^[11] In 2010, the LGBT Greens NI were established: a policy group and lobby group specialising in LGBT community issues within Northern Ireland. The LGBT group dissolved in early 2012 as their main aim—pushing for the inclusion of same-sex marriage within party policy—was achieved at the 2011 AGM after a unanimous vote.

The party supported a no vote in the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum.

In February 2015, the Queer Greens party group was set up to become the LGBT issues and activist wing of the party. The group is taking charge of party policy on LGBT rights, issues, welfare, campaigning, lobbying and raising awareness.

On 14 January 2016, the party announced that it had selected Ellen Murray as its candidate to contest the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly elections for West Belfast, making her the first openly transgender person to stand for election on the island of Ireland.^[12]

In June 2023, the party got their first ever mayoral role when Áine Groogan was made the deputy lord mayor of Belfast.^[13]

Policies

The Green Party has four key values: social justice, environmental sustainability, grassroots democracy and non-violence.^[14][15] It is considered to be more to the left than most parties in Northern Ireland.^[16]

The Green Party has been involved in several major campaigns since entering the Northern Ireland Assembly, including clean rivers and anti-nuclear campaigns, opposition to fracking, and fighting the austerity agenda. It has also campaigned against the development of incinerators at Belfast North Foreshore and Lough Neagh, and against proposals to extend the airport runway at George Best Belfast City Airport.^[9]

The Green Party campaigns not just for more environmental protection but also for politics for the common good. Former leader Steven Agnew has championed the rights of children in Northern Ireland through his Private Member's Bill which is seeking to establish a statutory duties on government departments to work together to deliver optimum children's services. Agnew has also been a long-standing supporter of integrated education and a society based on equal rights and mutual respect for all traditions. This has included bringing forward the first motion on same-sex marriage to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011. The party has also called for funding to be focused on improving public transport infrastructure and supports the creation of an independent environmental protection agency for Northern Ireland. They also campaign for a shift to alternative energy for Northern Ireland and were involved in the setting up of a lobby group for the sector. The Green Party in Northern Ireland campaigns for transparency in political funding, responsive local government, effective community planning, dynamic and sustainable local economies, environmental protection, and for animal welfare.

On the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, Agnew believes the status quo should remain "until the people of Northern Ireland decide otherwise", but stated that the Green Party does not consider the issue as one that should divide its members or society.^[17] The party has also called for greater transparency in politics, arguing that political donations in Northern Ireland should be made public. Northern Ireland is the only region of the United Kingdom where political donations are secret.^[18]

The party has said it wants a citizens' assembly to examine if drugs should be decriminalised to reduce deaths. In March 2021, then deputy leader and now leader of the party since August 2022, Mal O'Hara, said legalisation and harm-reduction models should be considered as the "current approach is obviously not working".^[19] In 2020, drug deaths in Northern Ireland were recorded at 218 according to official figures. This was an increase from the official recorded figure in 2019, which stood at 191 drug deaths in Northern Ireland and 92 in 2010, indicating the figure had more than doubled in a decade.^[20]

Leaders

• Steven Agnew (10 January 2011 – 21 November 2018)
• Clare Bailey (21 November 2018 – 15 August 2022)
• Mal O'Hara (15 August 2022 – present)

Election results

The party's first electoral success in Northern Ireland was at the local council elections of 2005. Raymond Blaney was elected onto Down District Council and Brian Wilson, formerly of the Alliance Party, took a seat on North Down Borough Council. The party's third local councillor was Ciaran Mussen, elected to Newry and Mourne District Council.^[21]

At the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the Green Party won its first seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly, when Brian Wilson won a seat in the North Down constituency. Overall the party won 11,985 first preference votes or 1.7% of the total – a rise of 1.4% since the 2003 Assembly election.

In 2009, the Green Party stood Steven Agnew in the European election — he secured 15,674 votes, trebling the Green Party's share of the vote.^[9] The Greens fought the election on the Green New Deal, calling for job creation in the green energy sector.

The Greens fielded four candidates in the 2010 UK general election,^[22] none of which managed to secure a seat. However, the number of votes for Green candidates more than trebled.

Brian Wilson MLA stood down ahead of the 2011 Assembly election,^[23] in which the party won a seat on North Down council,^[24] with their candidate Steven Agnew.^[25] Agnew subsequently stepped down from his position on North Down Borough Council as the party took a strong stand against so called 'double jobbing' or dual mandate; he was replaced by John Barry.^[24]

In May 2016 the Greens picked up their second seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly when Clare Bailey took a seat in South Belfast.

In 2019 the Greens picked up seats in local elections across the country. They managed to double the seats and won 4 seats in Belfast City Council.

Bailey and Rachel Woods were both defeated in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, leaving the party with no representation in Stormont for the first time since 2007.^[26]

Northern Ireland Assembly elections

Election	Body	Seats won	±	Position	First pref. votes	%	Government	Leader
1996	Forum	0 / 110		None	3,647	0.5%	Extra-parliamentary	None
1998	Assembly	0 / 108		None	710	0.1%	Extra-parliamentary	None
2003		0 / 108		None	2,688	0.4%	Extra-parliamentary	None
2007		1 / 108	1	6th	11,985	1.7%	Opposition	Kelly Andrews and John Barry
2011		1 / 108		6th	6,031	0.9%	Opposition	Steven Agnew
2016		2 / 108	1	6th	18,718	2.7%	Opposition
2017		2 / 90		6th	18,527	2.3%	Opposition
2022		0 / 90	2	7th	16,433	1.9%	Extra-parliamentary	Clare Bailey

UK Parliament elections

Election	Seats (in NI)	±	Position	Total votes	% (in NI)	% (in UK)	Government
1983	0 / 18		None	451	0.1%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
1987	0 / 17		None	281	0.0%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
1997	0 / 18		None	539	0.1%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
2010	0 / 18		None	3,542	0.5%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
2015	0 / 18		None	6,822	1.0%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
2017	0 / 18		None	7,452	0.9%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
2019	0 / 18		None	1,996	0.2%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary
2024	0 / 18		None	8,692	1.1%	0.0%	Extra-parliamentary

1983 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
North Antrim	Malcolm Samuel	451	1.0	6

1987 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
East Londonderry	Malcolm Samuel	281	0.6	6

By-elections, 1987–1992

By-election	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Upper Bann	Peter Doran	576	1.6	9

1997 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Belfast North	Peter Emerson	539	1.3	5

2010 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Belfast South	Adam McGibbon	1,036	3.0	5
North Down	Steven Agnew	1,043	3.1	5
South Down	Cadogan Enright	901	2.1	6
Strangford	Barbara Haig	562	1.7	7

2015 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Belfast East	Ross Brown	1,058	2.7	4
Belfast South	Clare Bailey	2,238	5.7	6
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	Tanya Jones	788	1.5	4
North Down	Steven Agnew	1,958	5.4	4
West Tyrone	Ciaran McClean	780	2.0	6

2017 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Belfast East	Georgina Milne	561	1.3	5
Belfast North	Mal O'Hara	644	1.4	5
Belfast South	Clare Bailey	2,241	5.1	5
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	Tanya Jones	423	0.8	5
North Down	Steven Agnew	2,549	6.5	4
Strangford	Ricky Bamford	607	1.6	6
West Tyrone	Ciaran McClean	427	1.0	6

2019 general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
East Antrim	Philip Randle	685	1.8	7
Strangford	Maurice Macartney	790	2.1	6
West Tyrone	Susan Glass	521	1.3	7

2024 general election

Main article: 2024 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
Belfast East	Brian Smyth	1,077	2.5	5
Belfast North	Mal O'Hara	1,206	3	6
Belfast South and Mid Down	Áine Groogan	1,577	3.6	6
Belfast West	Ash Jones	451	1.1	9
East Antrim	Mark Bailey	568	1.4	7
East Londonderry	Jen McCahon	445	1.1	8
Lagan Valley	Patricia Denvir	433	0.9	6
North Down	Barry McKee	1,247	2.9	4
South Antrim	Lesley Veronica	541	1.3	6
South Down	Declan Walsh	444	1	8
Strangford	Alexandra Braidner	703	1.8	7

Northern Ireland local elections

Election	±	Seats won	First-pref. votes	%
1985as Ecology		0	387	0.1
1989		0	329	0.1
1993		0	1,257	0.2
1997		0	706	0.1
2005	3	3	5,703	0.8
2011		3	6,317	1.0
2014	1	4	5,515	0.8
2019	4	8	14,284	2.1
2023	3	5	12,692	1.7

European Parliament elections

Election	Candidate	Seats won	Position	First pref. votes	%
1984as Ecology	Colin McGuigan	none	8th	2,236	0.3
1989	Malcolm Samuel	none	7th	6,569	1.2
2004	Lindsay Whitcroft	none	7th	4,810	0.9
2009	Steven Agnew	none	7th	15,764	3.3
2014	Ross Brown	none	8th	10,598	1.7
2019	Clare Bailey	none	7th	12,471	2.2

Officers

The Green Party's Chairperson is Elaine Crory and the Secretary is Mark Bailey. The party treasurer is Patricia Denvir.

The Party has spokespeople in the following areas:

• North Down: Barry McKee
• South Belfast: Áine Groogan
• Bangor Central: Gillian McNaull
• Bangor West: Barry McKee
• Holywood & Clandeboye: Lauren Kendall
• East Belfast: Anthony Flynn
• North Belfast: Mal O'Hara
• Young Greens: Ashley Jones
• Queer Greens: Anthony Flynn

Elected representatives

Local councils

• Lauren Kendall, Holywood and Clandeboye, Ards & North Down Council
• Barry McKee, Bangor West, Ards & North Down Council
• Anthony Flynn, Ormiston, Belfast City Council
• Brian Smyth, Lisnasharragh, Belfast City Council
• Áine Groogan, Botanic, Belfast City Council

See also

• Environment portal
• Ecology portal

• Demography and politics of Northern Ireland
• Green party
• Green politics
• List of environmental organisations

References

1. "Christians in Politics - Guide to the Green Party". christiansinpolitics.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
2. "2,600 Green Party members register for govt deal vote". 17 June 2020. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020 – via www.rte.ie. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. McClements, Freya (18 June 2020). "Votes of Northern Greens could impact on whether party enters coalition". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
4. Morris, Allison (17 June 2020). "Green Party members north and south hold the deciding votes for government formation". The Irish News. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
5. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "Northern Ireland/UK". Parties and Elections in Europe. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
6. "Green Party Branding 08" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
7. "Green Party". Northern Ireland Assembly. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
8. "Greens working for peaceful progress in Northern Ireland". 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
9. "Profile: Green Party". BBC News. 5 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
10. Belfast election results 1973–1981 Archived 1 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, ARK, accessed 13 January 2013
11. "QUB Greens Blog". qubgreens.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
12. Ferguson, Amanda (14 January 2016). "North's first transgender election candidate bids for Assembly seat". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
13. "Green Party secures first ever Northern Ireland mayoral role". BBC News. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
14. Mannion, A.M. (12 January 2006). Carbon and Its Domestication. Springer. p. 222. ISBN 9781402039560.
15. "Our Principles". Green Party in Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
16. Clarke, Liam (20 April 2011). "Green Party manifesto unveiled by new leader". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
17. "Green Party leader Steven Agnew reacts to leader debate". BBC News. 4 May 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
18. Walker, Stephen (29 March 2014). "Green Party's Steven Agnew in political donations call". BBC News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
19. Hughes, Brendan (7 March 2021). "Green Party wants citizens' assembly to examine if drugs should be decriminalised to reduce deaths". Belfast Live. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
20. Bonner, Kelly (1 March 2022). "Drug-related deaths more than double in decade in Northern Ireland". BBC News. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
21. Whyte, Dr Nicholas. "Local Government Elections 2005". ark.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
22. "Green Party NI candidates in 2010 general election". BBC News. 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
23. "Green Party to elect Northern Ireland leader". BBC News. 10 January 2011. Archived from the original on 13 January 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
24. "Green MLA Steven Agnew steps down from council". BBC News. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
25. "European election predictions: Full analysis of how DUP, Sinn Fein, UUP, SDLP and others could perform in May". Belfast Telegraph. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
26. Coyle, Colin (8 May 2022). "Greens blame 'polarised politics' for wipeout at Stormont". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 8 May 2022.

External links

• Official website
• Queer Greens Archived 28 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine
• QUB Greens Blog