‘An absolute privilege’: Eamon Ryan steps down as Green Party leader and will not run in next election

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has announced that he is stepping down as party leader and will not run in the next election.

Mr Ryan made the unscheduled announcement at Government Buildings at 1pm after the Cabinet meeting.

The Minister for Transport said it has been “an absolute privilege” to serve the public for almost 30 years. He said he will continue as a party leader and in his ministerial roles until a new leader is elected.

“I am stepping down to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders,” Mr Ryan said. “Our party will now elect a new leader to take the party forward from here.”

Mr Ryan said politics has become too demanding, too “divisive” and there had often been “vile attacks” on social media.

He said he wanted to focus on family life and paid special tribute to his wife, Victoria White and his children and made particular reference to his son Tommy, who has additional needs.

“I cannot continue to work the long hours that being a public representative involves which is why I am not standing again in the next general election. I have parenting commitments at home which I also want to serve. We have a son with special needs who also requires my attention.”

Mr Ryan later said he had made the decision many months ago and confirmed he would not run again in the next general election.

“I would love to stand in the next general election, but I have other commitments, at home especially. So for me it was about picking the time,” he said.

Mr Ryan said he was willing to serve in any role – that was up to the new leader of the party.

“My circumstances have been clear for a few years.”

[ Pat Leahy: Eamon Ryan resignation will make management of the end of this Coalition more fraught ]

Eamon Ryan said he is “proud” of what the Government has achieved over the last four years. “We have set the country on the course for a more sustainable future,” Mr Ryan said.

He touted improvements made in public transport, renewable energy and nature.

His party suffered a bruising in the recent local and European elections, however, losing more than half its council seats and both European Parliament seats.

Paying tribute, Taoiseach Simon Harris said Mr Ryan told him of his decision yesterday.

“Eamon is a politician of enormous standing, and I want to pay tribute to him and his family for everything they have given Irish politics through his leadership of the Greens. I respect and understand his decision.

“Eamon is a genuine, passionate and inherently decent person who brings those same qualities to politics,” Mr Harris said.

He added the leadership of the Green Party is now a matter for that party, and that the Coalition’s programme for government will continue to be implemented.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Mr Ryan had been consistent throughout his political life about issues, and had a steadfast commitment to green issues.

Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy said on a personal level he wished Mr Ryan well but that the Green Party had been a failure in Government.

The Government was good at setting targets, but not at delivering them, and those failures would have long-standing repercussions for the country,” he said on RTÉ’s News at One.

Mr Ryan becomes the second leader of a Coalition party to step down this year, after the resignation of Leo Varadkar in April.

The Greens’ deputy leader, Catherine Martin, is expected to be the early favourite to replace him. Ms Martin previously challenged Mr Ryan for the leadership at the time the Coalition was being formed in 2020.

Mr Ryan was first elected to the Dáil in 2002 and has been a TD for Dublin Bay South since 2016. He has been the leader of the Green Party since 2011.

Mr Ryan led his party back into Government in 2020 after the party’s best election result. He had spent much of the previous decade rebuilding the party after it lost all of its seats in the post-economic crash election of 2011, after it had served in government with Fianna Fáil for a tumultuous four years.

His resignation comes as the Coalition enters the last phase of its life, preparing for a general election that must come before the end of next March, but which many expect before then.

Since the relatively successful recent local and European elections for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, speculation about an autumn election has intensified.