![\"Senator](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1_Mal-O-hara-pic.jpg\")
Green Party leader, Mal O’Hara(Image: Harry Bateman\/Belfast Live)<\/p>\nWriting for Belfast Live, Green Party leader Mal O’Hara reflects on the growing support for his partyGreen Party leader, Mal O’Hara(Image: Harry Bateman\/Belfast Live)<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland faces multiple, overlapping crises.<\/p>\n
We are in the grip of a housing emergency, with extortionate rents rising faster than in London while parties of government slash funding for new social homes. The cost of living continues to soar, yet wages and benefits lag far behind. Public services feel broken: one in four of us is stuck on a waiting list, parents face annual stress over school places, and public transport remains unfit for purpose. Meanwhile, the blue-green algae crisis \u2014 already devastating Lough Neagh<\/a> \u2014 threatens to spread further, a stark warning that the climate crisis is no longer abstract but at our door.<\/p>\n But it doesn\u2019t have to be this way.<\/p>\n Last week, polling in Northern Ireland puts the Green Party<\/a> at 5.1 per cent, the largest increase of any party since the 2022 Assembly election. Other polls show most parties stagnating \u2014 or, in the case of Sinn F\u00e9in, the DUP and Alliance, losing ground \u2014 while Greens continue to surge.<\/p>\n This growth isn\u2019t a fluke or a fad. It reflects a deep and growing frustration with politics as usual, and a hunger for real solutions to the pressures shaping daily life: unaffordable energy and housing, stagnant wages, the anxiety of every weekly shop, and a political class that too often offers empty words instead of action. People are looking for a party with courage, compassion and conviction \u2014 one that believes politics should improve lives, not protect privilege.<\/p>\n Five per cent may sound modest to some, but in a post-conflict society with deeply entrenched voting patterns, it is significant. It shows that more people are recognising that business as usual is failing \u2014 and that they are ready for something better.<\/p>\n Our progress here mirrors a wider shift. Across England and Wales, under new leadership and a revitalised message, the Green Party has reached record polling highs, with some surveys placing us ahead of both Labour<\/a> and the Conservatives. Membership has surged past historic peaks, showing this is not just passive support, but active belief in a different kind of politics.<\/p>\n This moment is not about electoral success for its own sake. It is about why people are turning to the Greens. Families are being squeezed as bills rise. Workers are struggling while wealth concentrates at the top. Young people feel their future is being sacrificed to protect outdated interests. And many are furious at a Labour government complicit in genocide, abandoning basic principles of justice and international law.<\/p>\n That is why the Green message resonates. We will tackle the cost-of-living<\/a> crisis head-on: lowering energy bills through investment in renewables, building real energy independence, and targeting support where it is needed most. We believe in fair taxation \u2014 yes, taxing the wealthiest one percent and the biggest corporations \u2014 to build homes, rebuild public services and protect the planet.<\/p>\n Here in Northern Ireland, prolonged dysfunction at Stormont<\/a> has deepened public disillusionment. The Executive has been back for almost 600 days and has passed just ten bills. Three were budgets to keep government functioning. One outsourced a decision on MLAs\u2019 pay. Another fixed a mess caused by flawed legislation in 2022. That leaves five substantive bills in nearly 600 days. Is that good enough?<\/p>\n Too often, politics is consumed by constitutional trench warfare and internal squabbles while real problems \u2014 rising bills, overcrowded hospitals, underfunded schools and a chronic lack of housing \u2014 are left to fester. People deserve better than an endless replay of the same arguments. They deserve a politics that listens, acts and delivers.<\/p>\n That is what the Greens<\/a> offer. We do not come from the establishment, nor are we rooted in the conflicts of the past. We don\u2019t promise miracles \u2014 but we do promise honesty, action and hope.<\/p>\n The Greens are not a protest option; we are a practical choice. Across Britain, people increasingly see that environmental sustainability and economic justice go hand in hand. Investing in clean energy lowers bills and creates secure jobs. Progressive taxation funds the services we all rely on without punishing those already struggling. This is a politics grounded in fairness and shared prosperity.<\/p>\n With growth comes responsibility. We must continue building a grassroots movement that speaks to every community across Northern Ireland \u2014 urban and rural, unionist, nationalist or neither; young and old; black or white; gay, trans or straight. A party that reaches beyond old divides with a unifying message: lower bills, tax obscene wealth, and rebuild our communities.<\/p>\n The polling shows people are ready \u2014 for hope over hollow promises, fairness over failure, and leadership that delivers real change.<\/p>\n That is the future we are fighting for.<\/p>\n Sign up here for our Party Lines newsletter<\/a> and get the latest political analysis and headlines from Belfast Live’s Political Reporter James McCarthy direct to your inbox twice a week.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> and sign up to our politics newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Writing for Belfast Live, Green Party leader Mal O’Hara reflects on the growing support for his partyGreen Party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[14144,1144,285,11191,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-652571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-green-party","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-stormont","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115775091668874048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_JS343541892-1.jpg\")
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