Leaving the Greens

I have had misgivings about the direction of the Green Party for a while. I outlined in the Irish Times that the party getting behind a populist candidate of the far left for the Irish presidency was a bridge too far for me, so I've decided to step away from the party.

Amongst my other reasons, not mentioned in the article, are the decision by the Greens to continue using the toxic X / Twitter platform despite I and others campaigning internally for it to leave X / Twitter, the party's180 degree u-turn on the triple lock (and the manner of the u-turn) despite immense work having gone into developing the policy position and the party's increasing Dublin focus and failure to meaningfully endorse and support balanced development of the country. While there are many great people in the party it is being steered away from highlighting and campaigning on important environmental issues. I was particularly disappointed with the party's stance on the nitrates derogation and also its refusal to support a critical reform of the Arterial Drainage Act.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/10/14/brian-leddin-why-i-resigned-from-the-green-party-over-its-decision-to-back-catherine-connolly/?utm_source=chatgpt.com