'It is hard being a Green, as Kermit the frog used to say' - Green Party deputy leader, Róisín Garvey

Gordon Deegan

"'It is hard being a Green’, as Kermit the Frog used to say," according to Deputy Leader of the Green Party, Senator Róisín Garvey when asked to comment this evening on the poor General Election poll performance by the Green Party today.

Speaking at the count centre at Treacy's West County hotel in Ennis, Co Clare, after posing for photos with the extended Garvey clan, the Inagh native said: “When you are the smallest party in Government you get a kicking and we got a kicking today.”

She said: “I am not surprised. I think we were brave to go in as Coalition partners and what happened today has happened historically.”

Senator Garvey went on: "It is traditional in Irish politics that a small party with two other parties will get blamed and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were happy for that to happen. I am not surprised that it happened to us."

Senator Garvey said: “It was our third term in government - for the first time ever, we brought down carbon emissions, we halved the price of public transport and started a retrofit programme - I am very proud of what we achieved.”

She said: “The Green are not going to go anywhere. Climate change is not going to go away as an agenda issue.”

On her own performance, Senator Garvey said that six per cent of the first preference vote “is pretty good for a Green in Clare”.

She said: “I am very pleased with how I have done.”

However, Senator Garvey conceded that the gap between herself and Sinn Féin candidate, Donna McGettigan was too big to make up.

She said: "I will do well on transfers but I don’t think I will do well enough. I cannot see myself passing her out.”