Over the past four and a half years we worked flat out to implement that programme. I think most independent experts would say the impact has been transformational. Last year Ireland's emissions fell 6.8%, despite having one of Europe's fastest growing economies and record population growth.
The Greens switched spending in favour of public transport, cycling and walking. We rolled out a new rural bus service every week, while cutting young people's fares by 60%. Passenger numbers took off immediately and we are only at the start of the transformation.
In cloudy Ireland, solar panels are being put up on 100 roofs every day and 1,000 houses are being retrofitted every week. We introduced a basic income scheme for artists, halved the cost of childcare and cut the use of fertilisers in agriculture by 30%.
Despite, or perhaps because of, all the above, we lost all but one of our seats in the national parliament in last month's general election, after losing both our seats in the European parliament elections in June.
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