Roderic O’Gorman hopes to secure Green Party TD in Cork

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman has said that he is hopeful to secure a Green Party TD in Cork following this month’s general election.

Mr O’Gorman said: “It’s been a couple years since we’ve had one [a Cork TD] and we have an amazing selection of candidates here.

“I am looking forward to the next two weeks. This campaign is really vigorous. I think it’s been very political,” he said.

Mr O’Gorman said he looks forward to Monday night’s election debate when 10 political party leaders will go head-to-head on RTÉ’s Upfront With Katie Hannon.

“I’ve shown and my party has shown how we can deliver in government. How a group of 12 very committed people can make changes, can set them out in the Programme for Government, and actually deliver them.

“So, we know how to make change happen within government and I think that’s an advantage our party has over others who we’re competing against in this election.

“When we say we’re going to deliver the Luas for Cork, when we say we’ll deliver BusConnects and suburban rail programme, we have the track record of delivering.”

Speaking about a potential coalition, Mr O’Gorman said the Green Party will talk to all parties, which he said has always been the party’s approach and was the approach the party took in the 2020 general election.

“A coalition would have to be on the basis of a Programme for Government and to negotiate a Programme for Government, you have to have commonalities of policy,” he said.

“We’ve worked well with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the last four and a half years. This has been a good government. It’s delivered stability, it’s delivered really innovative policies, and it’s delivered all that through the covid crisis, the cost of living crisis and the response to the war in Ukraine. In really turbulent times, we’ve delivered stability.

“Our party is ready to be part of another government, but (it) will have to be on the basis of strong policies and what we outlined here is that focus on investing in public transport, not just in Dublin, but in all our cities as well, and in rural Ireland, that focus on supporting families, supporting women in returning to work, making childcare more affordable, giving them more time with their newborn in that first year. Those are the kind of policies we will be absolutely committed to delivering in Programme for Government talks.”