The Green Party will not be pushed out of government in the next general election, according to its leader Eamon Ryan.

The Minister for the Environment believes that the Irish electorate is "just as Green" as that of Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg, where Green Parties consistently scoop a healthy proportion of votes.

For this reason, he said, a Green Party electoral failure in Ireland is "not inevitable".

Europe

Minister Ryan said that European elections should be the focus for now, rather than a general election.

"We're very close to our European colleagues", he said. "The European Green group is quite strong."

"If you look at our colleagues in Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg ... they are in government."

"And they've often been in multiple governments ⁠— they return from one election to the next."

The Minister is confident that 10% of the Irish electorate are Green voters.

"I think if we go to people in this next election and ask this question, 'would you be prepared to cast this vote as one in ten, to say that we want to secure the future for our children?' ⁠— I'd be confident we could do that."

Minister for the Arts Catherine Martin is spearheading the restoration of the National Concert Hall. Picture by: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

Services

According to Minister Ryan, people will be impressed by the services and policies that his party has implemented while in government.

"I think we're delivering a lot of stuff that improved people's quality of life", he said.

"Why are the German Greens on 20% plus? Because they've done that for decades."

He added: "The more we deliver those bus services, the more we deliver low-cost childcare... the more Catherine [Martin] builds that concert hall.... I think people will say 'yeah, I want more of that'."

"There needs to be a Green party in government for climate to be taken seriously."

He says the real focus is getting the country to commit to an annual emissions reduction of 5%.

"That's the metric I'll be fixated on in the next two years", he said. "If we succeed in that, we'll succeed politically", he said.

"There needs to be a Green party in government for climate to be taken seriously."

"Our focus isn't on that boom-bust theory."

Leinster House car park

The free Dáil car park could be scrapped as part of the Climate Action Plan, to which Minister Ryan says: "Why not?"

"There are a lot of TDs who have to drive, absolutely, but I don't see it as a huge disadvantage parking on Molesworth St versus parking outside the front door."

"Greening the front of Leinster house, I think most TDs would support."

Main image shows Minister Eamon Ryan. Picture by: European Union