Pippa Hackett enters Green Party leadership race

Offaly-based Senator and Minister of State, Pippa Hackett, is to contest the leadership race for the Green Party, and will face to head to head contest with Children's Minister, Roderic O'Gorman.

Minister Hackett announced that she would be throwing her hat in the ring to succeed Eamon Ryan as leader of the Green Party on this evening's Newstalk current affairs programme, 'The Hard Shoulder' and said she wanted to be “the fresh start” that the party needs. “I believe a fresh start is needed, and I believe that I can be that fresh start” she told the programme.

The Geashill beef and sheep farmer acknowledged that trust had broken down between the Green Party and huge swathes of the country and that had been reflected in the loss of “a significant number of seats” in the local elections. “Rightly or wrongly, many people have become fearful of green policies, and I am want to work really hard to rebuild that trust” she said.

“We do need to listen and we do need to move the focus away from targets and more towards people” said Minister Hackett who acknowledged that the Green Party had been “very successful at influencing policy but not so successful at influencing people.”

She told Newstalk that the reality of the situation for the Green Party right now is that there are “no safe seats outside Dublin” and reiterated the point that the party has to be both “relevant and relatable “ to people across the country “and not just in Dublin” and said she feels she could bring the party in a “fresh new direction” as their new leader.

Ougoing Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, who announced his shock decision to step down from the top job in the party yesterday (Tuesday) said he would remain neutral throughout the upcoming contest for the party leadership, but once his successor is named he will “back them to the hilt."

In paying tribute to Deputy Ryan, Taoiseach Simon Harris said the Green Party leadership is “now a matter for the party’s members and rules.”