John Gormley

Infobox Minister
name = John Gormley
honorific-suffix = TD


imagesize = 180px
office = Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government
term_start = 14 June 2007
term_end =
predecessor = Dick Roche
successor =
office2 = Leader of the Green Party
predecessor2 = Trevor Sargent
successor2 =
term_start2 = 17 July 2007
term_end2 =
office3 = Teachta Dála for Dublin South East
term_start3 = 6 June 1997
term_end3 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1959|8|4|df=yes
birth_place = Dublin Ireland
death_date =
death_place =
party = Green Party
residence =
salary =
spouse =
religion =
children =
website =
footnotes =

John Gormley (born 4 August 1959) is the leader of the Irish Green Party and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. He also is a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South East and was previously the party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Health & Children, as well as serving as chairperson of the party.

Early life

Born in Dublin, Gormley was educated in St. Munchin's College, Limerick, University College, Dublin and Freiburg University, Germany. Prior to entering full-time politics he ran an academy of European languages. He has held many positions in the Green Party including Campaign Director for the successful anti-smog campaign in the 1980s. He contested his first Dáil general election in 1989 winning 3,329 first preferences (10.12%) in the Dublin South East constituency. In the 1989 Seanad election he received 1,837 first preferences (7.41%) in the National University of Ireland constituency. In 1990 he wrote The Green Guide For Ireland, containing advice on how to live and campaign environmentally. In 1992 Gormley's vote fell in the Dáil election to 2,476 votes (6.15%).

Political life

In 1991 he was elected to Dublin City Council and was Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1994–1995. In 1997 Gormley became only the third Green candidate to be elected to Dáil Éireann - after a famous week-long re-count with Michael McDowell, which he won by 27 votes. Gormley won 4,296 first preferences (11.71%) in 1997. Gormley and Trevor Sargent served as the two Green Party TDs from 1997–2002. He retained his seat in the 2002 general election, increasing his vote substantially to 5,264 (16.23%) and this time taking the first seat in his constituency, although McDowell gained the most number of first preferences.

He was elected to the newly created post of Party "Cathaoirleach" (chairperson) in 2002, and re-elected in late 2004 with 80% of the party vote. He is seen by many as the most influential figure within the Green Party, having proposed some of the major changes to the party structures such as the name change (from Green Alliance to Green Party) and the need to have a party leader.

He is an assiduous attender of residents' association meetings and stays in contact with his constituents through regular newsletters.

On 16 May 2007, during the run up to the 2007 Irish General Election, Gormley emerged from a crowd of journalists to confront Michael McDowell while he was unveiling a poster saying 'Left Wing Government? No Thanks'. Gormley repeatedly requested McDowell to admit that the accompanying pamphlet on the matter was awash with lies. A video of the incident circulated on the Internet and fronted the evening's main news. [cite web
title=Video of Gormley confronting McDowell
url=http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/230-2248710.smil|]

Gormley was re-elected in the 2007 general election, ironically beating McDowell for the last seat by 304 votes. As part of a national squeeze against smaller parties, Gormley's vote fell slightly to 4,685 first preference votes (13.84%). Following the election he led painstaking week-long negotiations with Fianna Fáil on forming a government. The programme for government was approved by 86% of party members who attended a specially convened conference in Dublin's Mansion House, after which the party entered office for the first time. On 14 June 2007 he was named as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the new coalition government.

As the new Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Gormley took over the responsibility for the controversial decision to build the new M3 motorway near the historical site of the Hill of Tara. On his final day in office, outgoing minister Dick Roche signed an order which allowed a National Monument near Tara to be studied and then destroyed to make way for the building of the M3 motorway. Gormley stated that despite wanting to, he was unable for legal reasons to reverse this order. Gormley's own party member Ciarán Cuffe has expressed his dissatisfaction with the former Minister Roche's decision and has pleaded to Gormley to intervene as the minister. Opposition parties said that said Gormley did have the power to revoke Roche's order. [cite web
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0615/m3.html
title=Gormley cannot reverse Tara decision
publisher=RTÉ News
date=2007-06-15|]

In September 2007, he announced regulations introducing reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions for all new homes in new building regulations. [http://constructireland.ie/articles/part-l-building-regulations/part-l-revealed.html] The new regulations are also set to make renewable energy mandatory for all Irish homes.

He lives in Ringsend with his wife, Penny, and their son and daughter.

Leader of Green Party

Following the general election of 2007, Trevor Sargent resigned as leader of the Green Party. The following leadership election was contested by Gormley and Patricia McKenna, and the Green Party announced that in the postal ballot he received 478 votes to McKenna's 263. There were 34 spoiled ballots. [cite web
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0717/greens.html
title=RTÉ.ie: Gormley elected Green Party leader|]

References

External links

* [http://www.johngormley.com John Gormley's website]
* [http://www.electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3480 John Gormley's electoral history] (Electionsireland.org)
* [http://www.greenparty.ie Irish Green Party website]
* [http://www.europeangreens.org European Greens website]

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