Pippa Hackett tipped for Green Party leadership race
Although she has yet to declare her intentions, Offaly Minister for State Pippa Hackett appears poised to enter the Green Party leadership race after yesterday's shock decision of Eamon Ryan to step down as leader.
Children's Minister, Roderic O'Gorman, became the first Green Party minister to publicly declare his intention to seek the vacancy for the leadership of the party in a statement issued this morning.
Minister Hackett, who was appointed to Cabinet from the Seanad by Eamon Ryan when the Coalition government was formed in 2020, has already receiving the backing of two leading members of the Green Party, Ossian Smyth TD and Senator Pauline O'Reilly.
Senator O'Reilly said she was prepared to support Minister Hackett in the leadership race as she was “the only one from outside Dublin” while Ossian Smyth said if the Offaly-based Minister throws her hat in the leadership ring he would be willing to run as deputy leader.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland earlier today, Deputy Smyth said Pippa Hackett has “all the skills required” to be the next leader of the Green Party, having sat at Cabinet for the past four years where she made many important decisions. He added that she has the ability and experience to be leader and also expressed the view that she would be able to relate to people outside of Dublin ahead of the next general election. He stressed that the Green Party needs “a reset” and pointed out that the last three leaders have been from Dublin and the party needs to counter the notion that is is in opposition to rural Ireland.
Pippa Hackett, who is a beef and sheep farmer from Geashill, first entered politics at the local elections in 2019 when was elected to Offaly County Council on a Green Party ticket for the Edenderry area. She was subsequently elected, unopposed, as a Senator for the Agricultural Panel in a by-election in November 2019 before being appointed to Cabinet from the Seanad by Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, in 2020.
Senator Hackett contested the 2020 General Election for the Green Party in Offaly, but failed to win a seat. The quota was 11,571 and she 3,494 first preference votes.
In the upcoming general election, where Minister Hackett is expected to be the Green Party candidate, she will be vying for one of just three seats in the new stand alone Offaly constituency.
As well as being a beef and sheep farmer, Pippa Hackett holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick.