Green Party Comhaontas Glas | |
|---|---|
_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Leader | Roderic O'Gorman |
| Deputy leader | Vacant |
| Northern Ireland leader | Mal O'Hara |
| Chairperson | Janet Horner[1] |
| Founders | |
| Founded | 3 December 1981; 43 years ago (1981-12-03) (as Ecology Party of Ireland) |
| Headquarters | 16–17 Suffolk Street,Dublin, Ireland |
| Youth wing | Young Greens |
| Membership(September 2025) |  ≈3,200[3] |
| Ideology | Green politics Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-left[6] |
| European affiliation | European Green Party |
| European Parliament group | Greens–European Free Alliance |
| International affiliation | Global Greens |
| Northern Ireland affiliate | Green Party Northern Ireland |
| Colours | Green |
| Dáil Éireann | 1 / 174 |
| Seanad Éireann | 1 / 60 |
| Local government in the Republic of Ireland | 23 / 949 |
| Local government in Northern Ireland | 5 / 462 |
| Website | |
| greenparty.ie | |
TheGreen Party (Irish:Comhaontas Glas,lit. 'Green Alliance') is agreen[7]political party that operates in theRepublic of Ireland andNorthern Ireland. It holds apro-European stance.[8] It was founded as theEcology Party of Ireland in 1981 byDublin teacherChristopher Fettes. The party became theGreen Alliance in 1983 and adopted its current English language name in 1987 while the Irish name was kept unchanged. The party leader isRoderic O'Gorman, the deputy leader is SenatorRóisín Garvey and the cathaoirleach (chairperson) is Janet Horner.[1] Green Party candidates have been elected to most levels of representation:local government (in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland),Dáil Éireann, theNorthern Ireland Assembly, and theEuropean Parliament.
The Green Party first entered the Dáil in 1989. It has participated in theIrish government twice, from 2007 to 2011 as junior partner in a coalition withFianna Fáil, and from 2020 to 2024 in a coalition with Fianna Fáil andFine Gael. Following the first period in government, the party suffered a wipeout in theFebruary 2011 election, losing all six of itsTDs. In theFebruary 2016 election, it returned to the Dáil with two seats.[9] Following this,Grace O'Sullivan was elected to theSeanad on 26 April that year of 2016 andJoe O'Brien was elected toDáil Éireann in the2019 Dublin Fingal by-election. In the2020 general election, the party had its best result ever, securing 12 TDs and becoming the fourth largest party in the33rd Dáil before losing all but one seat in the2024 general election.
The Green Party began life as theEcology Party in 1981, withChristopher Fettes serving as the party's first chairperson. The party's first public appearance was modest: the event announced that they would be contesting theNovember 1982 general election, and was attended by their seven election candidates, 20 party supporters, and one singular journalist. Fettes had opened the meeting by noting the party didn't expect to win any seats. Willy Clingan, the journalist present, recalled that "The Ecology Party introduced its seven election candidates at the nicest and most endearingly honest press conference of the whole campaign".[2] The Ecology party took 0.2% of the vote that year.
Following a name change to theGreen Alliance, it contested the1984 European elections, with party founderRoger Garland winning 1.9% in the Dublin constituency. The following year, it won its first election when Marcus Counihan was elected toKillarney Urban District Council at the1985 local elections, buoyed by winning 5,200 first preference votes as a European candidate in Dublinthe previous year. The party nationally ran 34 candidates and won 0.6% of the vote.
The party continued to struggle until the1989 general election when the Green Party (as it was now named) won its first seat inDáil Éireann, when Roger Garland was elected inDublin South. Garland lost his seat at the1992 general election, whileTrevor Sargent gained a seat inDublin North. In the1994 European election,Patricia McKenna topped the poll in the Dublin constituency andNuala Ahern won a seat in Leinster. They retained theirEuropean Parliament seats in the1999 European election, although the party lost five councillors in local elections held that year despite an increase in its vote. At the1997 general election, the party gained a seat whenJohn Gormley won a Dáil seat inDublin South-East.
At the2002 general election, the party made a breakthrough, getting sixTeachtaí Dála (TDs) elected to the Dáil with 4% of the national vote. However, in the2004 European election, the party lost both of its European Parliament seats. In the2004 local elections, it increased its number of councillors at county level from eight to 18 (out of 883) and at town council level from five to 14 (out of 744).
The party gained its first representation in the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007, theGreen Party in Northern Ireland having become a regional branch of the party the previous year.
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The Green Party entered government for the first time after the2007 general election, held on 24 May. Although its share of first-preference votes increased at the election, the party failed to increase the number of TDs returned.Mary White won a seat for the first time inCarlow–Kilkenny; however,Dan Boyle lost his seat inCork South-Central. The party had approached the 2007 general election on an independent platform, not ruling any out coalition partners while expressing its preference for an alternative to the outgoing coalition ofFianna Fáil and theProgressive Democrats.[10][11] Neither the outgoing government nor an alternative ofFine Gael,Labour and the Green Party had sufficient seats to form a majority. Fine Gael ruled out a coalition arrangement withSinn Féin,[12] opening the way for Green Party negotiations with Fianna Fáil.
Some saw the idea of going into coalition with Fianna Fáil as a "sell-out".[13]: 516 Before the negotiations began,Ciarán Cuffe TD wrote on his blog that "a deal with Fianna Fáil would be a deal with the devil… and [the Green Party would be] decimated as a Party".[14] After protracted negotiations,[15] a draft programme for government was agreed to between the Greens and Fianna Fáil.[16][17] Early Green demands included the introduction of legislation on corporate donations, amoratorium on using public land to build private hospitals, and altering the route of theM3 motorway near theHill of Tara; none of these demands appeared in the final government programme.[13]: 517 On 13 June 2007, Green members at theMansion House in Dublin voted 86% in favour (441 to 67; with 2 spoilt votes) of entering coalition with Fianna Fáil. The following day, the six Green Party TDs voted for the re-election ofBertie Ahern asTaoiseach.[16][18] New party leader John Gormley was appointed asMinister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government andEamon Ryan was appointed asMinister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Trevor Sargent was appointed asMinister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with responsibility for Food andHorticulture.
Before its entry into government, the Green Party had been a vocal supporter of theShell to Sea movement,[19][20] the campaign to reroute the M3motorway away fromTara,[21] and (to a lesser extent) the campaign to endUnited States military use ofShannon Airport.[22] After the party entered government there were no substantive changes in government policy on these issues, which meant that Eamon Ryan oversaw theCorrib gas project while he was in office. The Green Party had, at its 2007 annual conference, made an inquiry into the irregularities surrounding the project (seeCorrib gas controversy) a precondition of entering government, but changed its stance during post-election negotiations with Fianna Fáil.[19]
The 2008 budget did not include acarbon levy on fuels such as petrol, diesel and home heating oil, which the Green Party had sought before the election.[23] A carbon levy was, however, introduced in the 2010 Budget.[24] The 2008 budget did include a separatecarbon budget announced by Gormley,[25] which introduced new energy efficiency tax credit,[23] a ban onincandescent bulbs from January 2009,[26] a tax scheme incentivising commuters' purchases of bicycles[27] and a new scale ofvehicle registration tax based on carbon emissions.[28]
At a special convention on whether to support theTreaty of Lisbon on 19 January 2008, the party voted 63.5% in favour of supporting the Treaty; this fell short of the party's two-thirds majority requirement for policy issues. As a result, the Green Party did not have an official campaign in thefirst Lisbon Treaty referendum, although individual members were involved on different sides.[29] The referendum did not pass in 2008, and following the Irish government's negotiation with EU member states of additional legal guarantees and assurances, the Green Party held another special convention meeting in Dublin on 18 July 2009 to decide its position on thesecond Lisbon referendum. Precisely two-thirds of party members present voted to campaign for a 'Yes' in the referendum. This was the first time in the party's history that it had campaigned in favour of a European treaty.[30]
The government's response to thepost-2008 banking crisis significantly affected the party's support, and it suffered at the2009 local elections, returning with only three County Council seats in total and losing its entire traditional Dublin base, with the exception of a Town Council seat in Balbriggan.
Déirdre de Búrca, one of two Green senatorsnominated by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2007, resigned from the party and her seat in 2010, in part owing to the party's inability to secure her a job in theEuropean Commission.[31] On 23 February 2010, Trevor Sargent resigned as Minister of State for Food and Horticulture owing to allegations over contactingGardaí about a criminal case involving a constituent,[32] withCiarán Cuffe being appointed as his replacement the following March. By 2010, opinion polls showed strong support foran immediate election with the Greens polling at just 2%.[13]: 519
The Green Party supported the passage of legislation forEC–ECB–IMF financial support for Ireland's bank bailout. On 19 January, the party derailed TaoiseachBrian Cowen's plans to reshuffle his cabinet when it refused to endorse Cowen's intended replacement ministers, forcing Cowen to redistribute the vacant portfolios among incumbent ministers. The Greens were angered at not having been consulted about this effort, and went as far as to threaten to pull out of the coalition unless Cowen set a firm date for an election due that spring. He ultimately set the date for 11 March.[33]
On 23 January 2011, the Green Party met with Cowen following his resignation as leader of senior coalition partner Fianna Fáil the previous afternoon.[34] The Green Party then announced it was breaking off the coalition and going into opposition with immediate effect.[35] Ministers Gormley and Ryan resigned as cabinet ministers, and Cuffe and White resigned as Ministers of State.[36] Green Party leader John Gormley said at a press conference announcing the withdrawal:
For a very long time we in the Green Party have stood back in the hope that Fianna Fáil could resolve persistent doubts about their party leadership. A definitive resolution of this has not yet been possible. And our patience has reached an end.[37][38]
In almost four years in Government, from 2007 to 2011, the Green Party contributed to the passage ofcivil partnership for same-sex couples,[39] the introduction of major planning reform,[40] a major increase in renewable energy output,[41] progressive budgets,[42][better source needed] and a nationwide scheme of home insulation retrofitting.[43]
The party lost all of its six TDs at the2011 general election,[13]: 520 including former Ministers John Gormley and Eamon Ryan. Three of their six TDs lost their deposits. The party's share of the vote fell below 2%, meaning that they could not reclaim election expenses, and their lack of parliamentary representation led to the ending of state funding for the party.[44] The party candidates in the2011 election to the Seanad were Dan Boyle andNiall Ó Brolcháin; neither was elected, and as a result, for the first time since 1989 the Green Party had no representatives in theOireachtas.
In the aftermath of the wipeout Eamon Ryan was elected as party leader on 27 May 2011, succeeding John Gormley,[45] while Catherine Martin was later appointed the deputy leader of the party.[46]
At the2016 general election Ryan and Martin gained two seats in the Dáil whileGrace O'Sullivan picked up a seat in theSeanad. In doing so the Green party became the first Irish political party to lose all their seats in a general election but come back and win seats in a subsequent election.[47] The Greens continued to pick up momentum in 2019, performing quite well during the concurrent2019 local elections[48] and2019 European Parliament election[49][50] while in November that same year the party sawPippa Hackett win a seat in the Seanad andJoe O'Brien bring home the party's first ever by-election win in the2019 Dublin Fingal by-election.[51]
At the2020 general election, the party had its best result ever, winning 7.1% of the first-preference votes and returning 12 TDs, an increase of ten from the last election. It became the fourth-largest party in the Dáil and entered government incoalition withFianna Fáil andFine Gael. Ryan, Martin andRoderic O'Gorman were appointed as cabinet ministers, with four GreenMinisters of State.Clare Bailey, the leader of theGreen Party in Northern Ireland, was amongst a number of Green members who stood against the coalition. She said it proposed the "most fiscally conservative arrangements in a generation" and that "the economic and finances behind this deal will really lead to some of the most vulnerable being hit the hardest", as well as it not doing enough on climate and social justice.[52] She also said the deal "fails to deliver on our promise to tackle homelessness and provide better healthcare", "represents an unjust recovery" and "sets out an inadequate and vague pathway towards climate action".[53] The party returned two senators at the 2020 Seanad election, with a further two senators nominated by theTaoiseach,Micheál Martin bringing the total party representation in theOireachtas to 16. In July 2020, Eamon Ryan retained his leadership of the party with a narrow leadership election victory over Catherine Martin in the2020 Green Party leadership election by 994 votes to 946, a margin of 48 votes.[54][55][56][57]
Despite the success at the general election, the party found itself dogged by infighting and resignations.[58]Saoirse McHugh, a candidate in the 2019 European elections, 2020 general election and the2020 Seanad election, resigned from the party upon the Greens entering government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, parties she believed would damage public enthusiasm for environmentalist policies by pairing them with "socially regressive" policies.[59][60] Over the course of 2020, four councillors as well as both the leader of theYoung Greens and the leader of the Queer Greens left the party, all citing either bullying within the party or dissatisfaction with the coalition and its policies as the cause.[61][62][63] Amongst the resignations were councillorsLorna Bogue and Liam Sinclair, who subsequently formed a new left-wing green party calledRabharta in June 2021.[64][65]
Infighting continued in 2021 when the party CathaoirleachHazel Chu, theLord Mayor of Dublin, launched a campaign to run for the2021 Seanad by-elections with the support of six members of the Green Party Parliamentary Party, but without official backing from the party.[66][67][68] SenatorsPippa Hackett,Pauline O'Reilly andRóisín Garvey tabled a motion of no confidence in Chu as Cathaoirleach of the party.[69] Deputy leader, Catherine Martin urged the senators to withdraw the motion and it was later replaced with a motion calling for Chu to temporarily step aside from the position as party chair for the duration of the election. This was passed by 11 votes to five at a meeting of the Parliamentary Party.[70] The Executive Council of the party, however, decided not to follow the Parliamentary Party's decision and Chu remained in the position of Cathaoirleach until the end of her term in December 2021.[71] Chu ran in the2022 Dublin University by-election and was commended by the party for "championing climate action and inclusion".[72]
In May 2022, Green TDsNeasa Hourigan andPatrick Costello were suspended from the party for six months after they went against theparty whip and voted for an opposition motion calling for the newNational Maternity Hospital to be built on land wholly owned by the state.[73][74] Hourigan was suspended again in March 2023, this time for 15 months, after she voted against the government on the issue of ending a ban on evictions.[75]
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 was one of the Greens' flagship policies. The law enacted a legally binding path tonet zero emissions by 2050.[76][77] Five-year carbon budgets produced by the Climate Change Advisory Council will dictate the path to carbon neutrality, with the aim of the first two budgets creating a 51% reduction by 2030.[78] The five-year budgets will not be legally binding.[79]
The party also secured significantly increased budgets for active and sustainable travel including greenways and cycle lanes, the LocalLink rural bus network, decreases in public transport fares, a new forestry programme, increased incentives for solar and for retrofit, and the recognition of the circular economy. Outside of the core climate and environmental policies the party also implemented a pilot scheme for a basic income for the arts sector and large cuts in childcare costs.[80]
In June 2024, theEuropean UnionEnvironment Council approved theNature Restoration Law which was described as "among the EU's biggest environmental policies". The role of Eamon Ryan in convincing other ministers to support the law was considered to be pivotal to its success.[81]
At the2024 local elections, the party lost almost half of its council seats across the country, although it topped the poll in fourlocal electoral areas inDublin City. At the2024 European Parliament elections, Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O'Sullivan both lost their seats, while in theLimerick mayoral election, the party's candidate, Brian Leddin, won 2.89% of the vote and was eliminated on the fifth count.
On 18 June 2024,Eamon Ryan announced his resignation as party leader. Ryan also announced that he would not be seeking re-election as a TD forDublin Bay South at the next general election.[82] Later the same dayCatherine Martin announced her resignation as deputy leader and would not be seeking the leadership role.[83] On 19 June,Roderic O'Gorman and SenatorPippa Hackett both announced that they would be seeking nominations for the leadership position.[84][85] On 8 July, O'Gorman was narrowly elected over Hackett with 51.89% of the vote.[86] On 14 July, SenatorRóisín Garvey narrowly defeatedNeasa Hourigan with 51% of the vote to become deputy leader.[87]
At the2024 general election the party retained one of their twelve seats, with party leaderRoderic O'Gorman being elected.[88] The party won 3% of the vote.[89] In the2025 Seanad election, former TD and Minister of StateMalcolm Noonan was elected to the27th Seanad topping the poll on theAgricultural Panel.[90]
In the2025 Irish presidential election the party endorsed the campaign ofCatherine Connolly, joining a broad left alliance in support of her candidacy which includedSocial Democrats,People Before Profit,Labour,Sinn Féin and several left-leaning independents.[91] In October 2025, former TDBrian Leddin quit the party, citing his unhappiness at the decision to endorse Connolly.[92] Also in October 2025, Róisín Garvey resigned her position as deputy leader of the party and quit the party.[93][94]
The Green Party has seven "founding principles", which are:
Broadly, these founding principles reflect the "four pillars" ofgreen politics observed by the majority of Green Parties internationally:ecological wisdom,social justice,grassroots democracy, andnonviolence. They also reflect the six guiding principles of theGlobal Greens, which also includes a respect for diversity as a principle.[96]
While strongly associated withenvironmentalist policies, the party also has policies covering all other key areas. These include protection of theIrish language,[97] lowering thevoting age in Ireland to 16,[98] and support foruniversal healthcare.[99] The party also advocates that terminally ill people should have the right to legally chooseassisted dying, stating "provisions should apply only to those with a terminal illness which is likely to result in death within six months". It also states that "such a right would only apply where the person has a clear and settled intention to end their own life which is proved by making, and signing, a written declaration to that effect. Such a declaration must be countersigned by two qualified doctors".[100]
As other like-mindedgreen parties, it haseco-socialist/green left and more moderate factions. In parallel to other Green Parties in Europe, the 1980s and 1990s saw a division within the Irish Green Party between two factions; the "Realists" (nicknamed the "Realos") and the "Fundamentalists (nicknamed the "Fundies").[101][102] The 'Realists' advocated taking a pragmatic approach to politics, which would mean having to accept some compromises on policy in order to get party members elected and into government in order to enact change. The 'Fundamentalists' advocated more radical policies and rejected appeals for pragmatism, citing that the looming effects of Climate Change would leave no time for compromise. Following a national convention in 1998 which saw a realist majority of members defeat a minority of fundamentalist members on a number of votes, and the party subsequently enter government for the first time in 2007, the factionalism of the 'Realists vs the Fundamentalists' was seen to have wilted away with the 'Realists' becoming the ascendent faction. However, in some respects, the division only laid dormant.[103]
Following the2019 local elections and the2020 general election, the party had more elected representatives than ever before as well as its highest ever membership.[104] On 22 July 2020, several prominent members of the party formed the "Just Transition Greens", an affiliate group within the party with a green left/eco-socialist outlook, who have the objective of moving the party towards policies based on the concept of a "Just Transition".[105][106][107] During the 2020 Green Party leadership election, a significant aspect of the candidacy of Catherine Martin was that it was suggested that Martin could better represent the views of these individuals within the party than the incumbent Eamon Ryan.[108][109]
The National Executive Committee is the organising committee of the party. It comprises the party leader Roderic O'Gorman, the deputy leader Róisín Garvey, the Cathaoirleach Janet Horner, the National Coordinator, the General Secretary (in a non-voting role), a Young Greens representative, the Treasurer and ten members elected annually at the party convention.[110]
| Name | Portrait | Period | Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|
| No leader |  | 1981–2001 | N/A |
| Trevor Sargent |  | 2001–2007 | Dublin North |
| John Gormley | .jpg) | 2007–2011 | Dublin South-East |
| Eamon Ryan | .jpg) | 2011–2024 | Dublin South Dublin Bay South |
| Roderic O'Gorman | .jpg) | 2024–present | Dublin West |
| Name | Portrait | Period | Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mary White |  | 2001–2011 | Carlow–Kilkenny (2007–2011) |
| Catherine Martin | | 2011–2024 | Dublin Rathdown (2016–2024) |
| Róisín Garvey | .jpg) | 2024–2025 | SenatorNominated by Taoiseach (2016–2025) |
| Position vacant | October 2025–present |
| Name | Portrait | Period |
|---|---|---|
| John Gormley | | 2002–2007 |
| Dan Boyle |  | 2007–2011 |
| Roderic O'Gorman | | 2011–2019 |
| Hazel Chu | .jpg) | 2019–2021 |
| Pauline O'Reilly | .jpg) | 2021–2025 |
| Janet Horner[1] | 2025–present |
Note: Although Christopher Fettes chaired the party initially, the position of Cathaoirleach was not created until 2002.
The party did not have a national leader until 2001. At a special "Leadership Convention" in Kilkenny on 6 October 2001, Trevor Sargent was elected the first official leader of the Green Party while Mary White was elected deputy leader.[111] Sargent was re-elected to his position in 2003 and again in 2005. The party's constitution requires that a leadership election be held within six months of a general election.[112][113]
Sargent resigned the leadership in the wake of the 2007 general election to the30th Dáil. During the campaign, Sargent had promised that he would not lead the party into Government with Fianna Fáil.[114] At the election the party retained six Dáil seats, making it the most likely partner for Fianna Fáil. Sargent and the party negotiated a coalition government; at the 12 June 2007 membership meeting to approve the agreement, he announced his resignation as leader.
In the subsequent leadership election, John Gormley became the new leader on 17 July 2007, defeatingPatricia McKenna by 478 votes to 263. Mary White was subsequently re-elected as the deputy Leader. Gormley served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from July 2007 until the Green Party's exit from government in January 2011.[35]
Following the election defeats of 2011, Gormley announced his intention not to seek another term as Green Party leader. Eamon Ryan was elected as the new party leader, over party colleagues Phil Kearney and Cllr Malcolm Noonan in a postal ballot election of party members in May 2011. Monaghan-based former councillor Catherine Martin defeated Down-basedDr John Barry and former Senator Mark Dearey to the post of deputy leader on 11 June 2011 during the party's annual convention. Roderic O'Gorman was elected party chairperson.[45]
The Green Party lost all its Dáil seats in the 2011 general election.[115] Party Chairman Dan Boyle and Déirdre de Búrca were nominated by the Taoiseach to Seanad Éireann after the formation of the Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats–Green Party government in 2007, and Niall Ó Brolcháin was elected in December 2009. De Búrca resigned in February 2010, and was replaced by Mark Dearey. Neither Boyle nor O'Brolchain was re-elected to Seanad Éireann in the Seanad election of 2011, leaving the Green Party without Oireachtas representation until the 2016 general election, in which it regained two Dáil seats.
Ryan's leadership was challenged by deputy leader Catherine Martin in 2020 after the2020 government formation; he narrowly won a poll of party members, 994 votes (51.2%) to 946.[116]
The Green Party is organised throughout the island of Ireland, with regional structures in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. TheGreen Party Northern Ireland voted to become a regional partner of the Green Party in Ireland in 2005 at its annual convention, and again in a postal ballot in March 2006.[117][118][119]Brian Wilson, formerly a councillor for theAlliance Party, won the Green Party's first seat in theNorthern Ireland Assembly in the2007 election.[120]Steven Agnew later held that seat from the2011 election until his resignation in September 2019.[121]
| Election | Leader | FPv | % | Seats | % | ± | Dáil | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 1982 | None | 3,716 | 0.2 (#6) | 0 / 166 | — | New | 24th | No seats 19th government (FG-Labmajority) |
| 1987 | 7,159 | 0.4 (#8) | 0 / 166 | — |  | 25th | No seats 20th government (FFminority) | |
| 1989 | 24,827 | 1.5 (#6) | 1 / 166 | 0.6 (#6) |  1 | 26th | Opposition 21st, 22nd government (FF-PD minority) | |
| 1992 | 24,110 | 1.4 (#7) | 1 / 166 | 0.6 (#6) | | 27th | Opposition 23rd government (FF-Lab majority) | |
| Opposition 24th government (FG-Lab-DL majority) | ||||||||
| 1997 | 49,323 | 2.8 (#5) | 2 / 166 | 1.2 (#5) | 1 | 28th | Opposition 25th government (FF-PD minority) | |
| 2002 | Trevor Sargent | 71,470 | 3.8 (#6) | 6 / 166 | 3.6 (#5) | 4 | 29th | Opposition 26th government (FF-PD majority) |
| 2007 | 96,936 | 4.7 (#5) | 6 / 166 | 3.6 (#4) | | 30th | Government 27th, 28th government (FF-GP-PD majority) | |
| 2011 | John Gormley | 41,039 | 1.8 (#5) | 0 / 166 | — | 6 | 31st | No seats 29th government (FG-Labsupermajority) |
| 2016 | Eamon Ryan | 56,999 | 2.7 (#8) | 2 / 158 | 1.3 (#8) | 2 | 32nd | Opposition 30th, 31st government (FG-Ind minority) |
| 2020 | 155,695 | 7.1 (#4) | 12 / 160 | 7.5 (#4) | 10 | 33rd | Government 32nd, 33rd, 34th government (FF-FG-GP majority) | |
| 2024 | Roderic O'Gorman | 66,911 | 3.0 (#8) | 1 / 174 | 0.6 (#8) | 11 | 34th | Opposition 35th government (FF-FG-Ind majority) |
| Election | ± | Seats won | First-pref. votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | | None | 7,446 | 0.5% |
| 1991 | 13 | 13 | 32,950 | 2.4% |
| 1999 | 5 | 8 | 35,742 | 2.5% |
| 2004 | 10 | 18 | 71,052 | 3.9% |
| 2009 | 15 | 3 | 44,152 | 2.3% |
| 2014 | 9 | 12 | 27,168 | 1.6% |
| 2019 | 37 | 49 | 96,315 | 5.6% |
| 2024 | 26 | 23 | 66,684 | 3.6% |
| Election | Body | Leader | 1st pref votes | % | Seats | ± | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Forum | None | 3,647 | 0.5 (#10) | 0 / 110 | | No seats |
| 1998 | Assembly | 710 | 0.1 (#18) | 0 / 108 | | No seats | |
| 2003 | 2,688 | 0.4 (#11) | 0 / 108 | | No seats | ||
| 2007 | 11,985 | 1.7 (#7) | 1 / 108 | 1 | Opposition | ||
| 2011 | Steven Agnew | 6,031 | 0.9 (#7) | 1 / 108 | | Opposition | |
| 2016 | 18,718 | 2.7 (#7) | 2 / 108 | 1 | Opposition | ||
| 2017 | 18,527 | 2.3 (#7) | 2 / 90 | | Opposition | ||
| 2022 | Clare Bailey | 16,433 | 1.9 (#7) | 0 / 90 | 2 | No seats |
| Election | Seats (in NI) | ± | Position | Total votes | % (in NI) | % (in UK) | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 0 / 17 | | None | 451 | 0.1% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 1987 | 0 / 17 | | None | 281 | 0.0% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 1997 | 0 / 18 | | None | 539 | 0.1% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 2010 | 0 / 18 | | None | 3,542 | 0.5% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 2015 | 0 / 18 | | None | 6,822 | 1.0% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 2017 | 0 / 18 | | None | 7,452 | 0.9% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 2019 | 0 / 18 | | None | 1,996 | 0.2% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| 2024 | 0 / 18 | | None | 8,692 | 1.1% | 0.0% | No Seats |
| Election | Leader | 1st pref Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | None | 5,242 | 0.47 (#7) | 0 / 15 | New | − |
| 1989 | 61,041 | 3.74 (#6) | 0 / 15 | 0 | ||
| 1994 | 90,046 | 7.92 (#4) | 2 / 15 | 2 | G | |
| 1999 | 93,100 | 6.69 (#4) | 2 / 15 | 0 | Greens/EFA | |
| 2004 | Trevor Sargent | 76,917 | 4.32 (#5) | 0 / 13 | 2 | − |
| 2009 | John Gormley | 34,585 | 1.89 (#7) | 0 / 12 | 0 | |
| 2014 | Eamon Ryan | 81,458 | 4.92 (#5) | 0 / 11 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 190,814 | 11.37 (#4) | 2 / 13 | 2 | Greens/EFA | |
| 2024 | 93,575 | 5.36 (#4) | 0 / 14 | 2 | − |
The party constitution requires that nominations for the leadership of the party be opened after a general election
Our party tradition or constitution says that we should have our leadership contest within six months of a general election.
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