Mayo risks being ‘left behind’ without Green Party representation, say Mayo Greens 

THE Mayo Green Party have said that Mayo risks being ‘left behind’ without Green Party representation on Mayo County Council.

The party – which has never held a seat in the council chamber – is running two candidates in the upcoming local elections.

Peter Nolan, a Louisburgh-based organic farmer, is running for the party in the Westport Electoral Area while retired businessman Micheál O’Conaill is running in the Belmullet Electoral Area.

Launching their local and European election campaigns, the party said that Mayo risks being “left behind as other counties and regions power ahead with the climate transition that will create new green jobs, green energy and viable green agriculture.”

The party has put forward an eight-point manifesto for the upcoming elections, which includes calls for improved public transport, nature-based incentives for farmers, support for the Western Rail Corridor and encouraging remote working.  

Mr Nolan, an organic farmer based in Louisburgh said that the ‘group think’ of sitting Mayo County Council representatives would keep Mayo back.

He has committed to campaigning for climate change funding for biodiversity, native forestry, organic farming and improvement of water and air quality, as well as the completion of the Westport to Roonagh greenway.

Mr Nolan also spoke out against a Mayo County Council’s motion calling for the local authority to withdraw cooperation with the Department of Integration.

“Over 85 percent of Irish people, rural and urban, old and young, believe that climate change is real and that it has to be addressed systemically if we are to look forward to a viable future. Already, the county councils in Ireland that have embraced this reality are powering ahead, but this message seems to have passed over the heads of the current regressive Mayo County Council representatives, as they cling to the thinking and politics of the past,” said Mr Nolan.

Mr O’Conaill was raised in Erris and managed an insurance brokerage in Dublin for many years. He later returned to Belmullet where he managed the well-known boxty factory.

He has pledged to campaign for more funding for retrofitting homes in his area, as well as increased incentives for small farmers in disadvantaged areas who are food producers.“Many Mayo farmers, often farming on marginal lands, have the most to gain from regenerative and nature-based farming solutions that pay well, which is what green agriculture is all about,” Mr O’Conaill said, citing Mayo having the second highest county-wide sign up to the ACRES environmental scheme.

Senator Pauline O’Reilly will be standing in the five-seater Midlands North-West European parliament constituency against Mayo women Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fáil), Michelle Smith (Independent), Maria Walsh (Fine Gael) and former Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh (Independent).

“With Greens in Europe and in local politics we can both protect the environment and maintain a strong economy, while at the same time lowering people’s bills, improving our quality of life, bringing our towns back to life and ensuring a secure future for our children and their children,” the Galway-based Senator stated.

Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party, said last August that his party would ‘win seats in Mayo’ in next elections.