Ryan "not obsessed" with leadership amid Green Party challenge

Eamon Ryan has said he will be happy to work with Catherine Martin if she takes his leadership of the Green Party in the coming weeks.

Deputy Martin has said she will give ‘serious consideration’ to contesting the party’s upcoming leadership vote – despite the gains it made in the election.

On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Deputy Ryan said he doesn't “obsess about the whole leadership thing.”

Ryan "not obsessed" with leadership amid Green Party challenge

He noted that his party did not have a leader for the first 20 years of its existence.

“It was very much about seeking consensus and it is maybe less hierarchical than other parties,” he said.

“So, I’ll be honest, I am very comfortable with that as it’s the tradition I come from and I don’t obsess about the whole leadership thing.

“I would tend to obsess about policy and about what we actually might try and get done.”

Pointing to €750bn ‘green recovery’ plan put forward by European Commission today he said he is more excited about what he sees as the “chance for real change.”

“If you look at what the EU is saying today […] it’s saying invest in public transport, walking and cycling,” he said. “It’s saying invest in renewable energy, invest in retrofitting buildings.”

“So, in terms of working in the vineyard for a long time, if we could get that fruit in; If we could get that bottled, that would make my day.”

Asked if there was any possibility of an agreed succession in which Deputy Martin takes his position and he is offered a ministerial job, he said “I think anything is possible in politics.”

“I am putting myself forward [for re-election] because I think I have something to offer,” he said.

“But if I didn’t win that […] and if I wasn’t appointed as leader for whatever reason, I would have no problem working with someone else.

“I wouldn’t be walking away in a huff saying, ‘oh god, it has to be me.’”

you can listen back to the full interview here:

Ryan "not obsessed" with leadership amid Green Party challenge