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Activists in the GREEN Party have been told not to use “big words” when trying to appeal to rural voters, as they may not understand what they mean.
Enadora Róisín Garvey said party members must “choose their words” and added that she learned this by working with travelers.
Garvey made the remarks at the party’s National Convention during a debate on the “anti-green narrative” in rural areas that sees the party struggle to win votes outside of big cities.
The Clare-based senator said of rural voters: “We don’t have to give them statistics on carbon this and climate that and use a big vocabulary …
“We really have to choose our words. I guess I learned it working with Travelers for a few years.
“If you start to relate to people and are using even the word sustainable or biodiversity, this is a vocabulary that is new and we should not assume that people understand what they are.
“Let’s talk about the flowers, let’s talk about the cattle. Let’s talk about the robin, the sparrow …
“I think colloquialism is important and I think simple vocabulary includes everyone.
“It’s not your job to show that you know great terms when you campaign. It’s to show that you can relate to everyone,” he said.
Ms. Garvey also advised party members to: “Wear Clare’s shirt, go to hurling games, meet your local priest.”
Earlier, the former candidate for the Sligo-Leitrim elections, Bláithín Gallagher, spoke of the difficulty of winning green votes in rural areas.
She said she faced “great opposition” during her campaign and was booed from the meeting room.
“The negativity the party attracted among the mainly rural population was incredible with false stories and myths being perpetuated,” he said.
Ms. Gallagher said she could understand the perception that the Greens are a city-centric party.
She said only four of her 12 TDs are from outside Dublin and represent urban areas.
Gallagher said the Green Party has “a lot of work to do” to win seats in rural areas.
She said: “We need to recover the narrative and show how voting Green is good for all of us on the island.”
Garvey said there is “great enthusiasm” in rural areas “to do the right thing and to do the good things for us and the planet.”
He said that during the elections only two people out of the 1,000 houses he visited “made me feel sorry.”
Meanwhile, Garvey said people are “freaking out” about the carbon tax, but farmers need to be told that “it is not this big evil tax that will crush them forever.”
The carbon tax will go up again in the budget and the proceeds will be set aside to protect people at risk of energy poverty and for projects like remodeling homes for energy efficiency.
Garvey said he is optimistic about living in rural Ireland when he considers that the measures will be funded from limited revenues from “this carbon tax that everyone is going crazy about.”
It listed farmers’ payment for biodiversity, native forests and carbon sequestration and sought to increase fuel allocation to help vulnerable people heat their homes.
He blamed the media for the myth that the Green Party doesn’t care about rural Ireland.
Garvey said that farmers care about climate change and that “we are all on the same side here” and an important message for the Green Party is to describe what the profits in rural Ireland will be used for.
She said, “That’s going to come out a lot good.”
Ms. Garvey added: “It is not this big tax that is going to crush you forever … We are looking to modernize homes and lower the cost of heating your home.
“So if you have to spend two and a half cents per liter more when driving your car, it’s not the end of the world.”
Online editors
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