The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981. It has succeeded in getting candidates elected to all levels of government; local, Dáil and European Parliament. The Republic of Ireland has a system of proportional representation called the Single Transferable Vote, which gives smaller parties, such as the Green Party, more opportunity to gain representation. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dáil Éireann is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) of the Republic of Ireland1. ... The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... Proportional representation (PR) is any of various multi-winner electoral systems which try to ensure that the proportional support gained by different groups is accurately reflected in the election result. ... The Single Transferable Vote, or STV, is a preference voting system designed to minimise wasted votes in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. ...

In the general election of 2002 it made a breakthrough, getting 6 TDs (Members of Parliament) elected to the Dáil. However, in the election to the European Parliament of June 2004, the party lost both of the European Parliament seats which it had won in the previous election in 1999. It has had little success at local level, winning only 18 seats out of 878. Nonetheless, this was a doubling of its 9 won in 1999. Its new councillors include Niall O Brolchain, elected in Galway City and J.J. Power, elected in Naas. The Irish general election of 2002 was held on Friday 17 May 2002, just over three weeks after the dissolution of the 28th Dáil on Thursday 25 April by President Mary McAleese, at the request of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. ... A TD or Teachta Dála (Irish for Dáil Deputy, pronounced chock-ta dawla) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas (pronounced orr-och-tas) or National Parliament. ... Elections to the European Parliament were held from June 10, 2004 to June 13, 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. ... The 1999 election was the first election for the European Parliament after the enlargement of the European Union with Austria, Finland and Sweden. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Niall OBrolchain is an Irish politician, and a councillor for the West Ward of Galway City Council, elected in June 2004 with 10. ... J.J. Power is a Irish Green Party politican. ...

The Green Party's best-known politicians are its leader Trevor Sargent and Deputy Eamon Ryan. Apart from Sargent and Ryan the other Green Party TDs include: John Gormley, Ciarán Cuffe, Paul Gogarty and Dan Boyle.The Green Party's deputy leader is Councillor Mary White. Missing image Trevor Sargent TD Trevor Sargent is a senior Irish politician. ... Eamon Ryan is an Irish Green Party politician. ... A TD or Teachta Dála (Irish for Dáil Deputy, pronounced chock-ta dawla) is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Irish Oireachtas (pronounced orr-och-tas) or National Parliament. ... John Gormley (born August 4, 1959) is an Irish Green Party politician. ... Ciarán Cuffe (born 1963) is an Irish Green Party politician. ... Paul Gogarty is a Irish Green Party politican and has been a member of the Green Party since 1989. ... Dan Boyle (born 1962) is an Irish Green Party politician. ... Mary White is the Irish Green Partys Deputy leader and a elected member of Carlow County Council for the Borris electoral area. ...

The Green Party has strong links with its counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Green Party in Northern Ireland, but it has had little success at any level of election in the North, though in the most recent local elections it won three councillors. Although it is a member of the European Federation of Green Parties, the Irish Green Party has adopted a notably more eurosceptic stance than is typical of Green Parties in other European Union countries. Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... The Green Party in Northern Ireland is a minor political party operating in Northern Ireland. ... The European Federation of Green Parties is an umbrella organization of green parties in Europe. ... Euroscepticism is scepticism about, or disagreement with, the purposes of the European Union, sometimes coupled with a desire to preserve national sovereignty. ...

The Green Party also has a youth wing, know as the Young Greens, which has several hundred members in branches throughout the country. Its current chair is Pat Barrett.

At the 2005 National Convention, Party Delegates voted overwhelming not to enter a pre-election pact with the other main opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour. Their reasoning for this was that participation in such an alliance would drown out their voice and deprive them of vital transfers from other left-wing parties, most notably Sinn Fein. Opinion polls put them at between 4% and 7%. See also: Worldwide green parties Fine Gael (United Ireland) (IPA ) is the second largest political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Ireland as a whole. ... Labour (or labor) can mean any one of the following things: Physical or mental work; exertion. ... Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... This article is about the green parties around the world. ...

External link

• Green Party Official website (http://www.greenparty.ie/)
• Young Greens Official website (http://www.younggreens.ie/)