Green Party conference

The Green New Deal needs more than £12 million from 2011-2014 but it does act as a roadmap to a “social economy with green values at its core,” Green Party leader, Steven Agnew told his annual Northern Ireland conference on 29 October.

With 6,031 votes (0.9 per cent) the party gained a single seat. However, with 41,039 votes (1.8 per cent) in the Republic, the Greens lost all six seats in the Dáil following their unpopular coalition with Fianna Fáil.

A motion from the Antrim branch to create a Northern Ireland party rather than remain a region of the Irish Green Party was rejected. Attendees included Environment Minister Alex Attwood and Irish Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.

Agnew stated his intention to “be constructive and not oppose for the sake of doing so”. He recognised he has limited opportunity to make an impact but cited a successful motion to encourage sustainable school transport. He also outlined his private member’s Bill which calls for a statutory duty on government departments to co-operate on children’s services.

The party agreed to continue its campaigns for same sex marriage, raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, opposing fracking and all oil drilling in Northern Ireland, and reducing pensioner poverty.

While he admitted to disagreeing with his opposition counterpart Jim Allister, Agnew conceded that “at least he knows where his point of view comes from,” adding that some MLA are having “their point of view handed to them on a sheet of paper, and actually when you talk to them they don’t even agree with the thing they read out.”

Agnew intends to work with “good politicians” like Attwood to try and get green policies implemented “because we can’t do it on our own.”