MARY FOGARTY

STEVEN MATTHEWS, who joined the Green Party for a fiver when he was a student, has become the first Green Party TD elected from Wicklow to Dáil Eireann.

‘I remember the first thing I did was canvass for Deirdre de Burca in the 2004 local elections,’ he said. He was also hanging posters for the 2007 general elections, and managed the Bray canvas for de Burca.

‘I was co-opted in 2007, and lost the seat in 2009. I won it back again in 2014.’

He was inspired to join the party when it occurred to him that he shared values with the Greens.

‘I met Caroline (Burrell) and Deirdre at an event. I was studying planning and environmental management and mentioned I was considering joining.’

Caroline Burrell was a councillor at the time, and ‘whipped out a membership form’.

She said it was just €5 to join. ‘I was a student,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘I had a fiver floating around in my wallet, and joined there and then.’

He worked behind the scenes for a period of time, and thought really that would be where he would remain.

‘I never thought I would be front of house,’ said Steven. ‘I was researching, looking into policy,’ he said. But he enjoyed the work once he became a member of the council.

He has enjoyed it very much, and in particular working together with others on a range of projects.

‘You never really know what’s ahead of you,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘Having won the seat back in 2014, it was really important for us to have a Green voice in Wicklow County Council.’

It was very welcome for them, then, to have Lourda Scott elected in the Greystones district in 2019. Now, in 2020, County Wicklow has elected its first green TD.

‘People are so much more aware of climate and biodiversity than even three or five years ago,’ said Deputy Matthews.

While more mainstream, these are by no means brand new issues. ‘When I was in DIT we studied climate change,’ he said.

In the Green Party’s early 1980s manifestos, they discussed what was known then as the greenhouse effect. ‘It was way off in the future and didn’t have the mainstream focus and media attention,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘Now schoolchildren are learning about climate change and the environment in school.’

Deputy Matthews spoke to a number of farmers during his campaign, and said that correct payment for their work is an important part of environmentalism.

‘They told me they are just not getting payment for the work they put in. If someone is getting tiny returns on their product then they have got to intensively produce large amounts, which puts a massive stress on the farmers, their families, and on the land.’

The party’s policies on housing resonated with constituents, according to Deputy Matthews, who advocates energy efficient and sustainable housing, ‘in the right places, with the right services, and good public transport’. He said that it is their attitude towards a lot of the day to day issues which encouraged people to vote for the party, as well as climate and biodiversity policies.

Improved public transport in Wicklow is something which came up time and time again on the doorsteps.

‘If you look at the N11, people are stuck for an hour and a half or more each morning, and again in the evening,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘It makes sense to improve public transport.’

Other models encouraged by the party and by Deputy Matthews include the cost rental model of housing. The party advocates a large scale public building programme, with long-term supply and tenure. ‘In Europe it’s normal for people to rent long term for their entire lives because they have that security of rental,’ he said.

His own ethos includes the protection of the natural environment from marine to farms, woodland, air quality and other categories. ‘I want to work with farmers too and give them better return,’ he said. ‘We have so much commonality in what we want to do, it gets lost in the narrative.

‘They know the land better than anybody.’

The health service is of course a priority.

‘All parties seem to be in agreement when it comes to health,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘Whoever forms a government, it’s important to establish Sláintecare.’

He said that the environment impacts on people’s health in a very real way. Air pollution, water courses getting polluted, all these factors feed into ill health. The provision of safe cycling and walking routes to school will not only encourage people to be more active, but reduce pollution and improve air quality.

‘You can almost taste the air pollution at times,’ said Deputy Matthews. ‘That’s not good for kids going to school.’

He said that areas like Holland and Denmark also get rain and poor weather. ‘Yet they have great infrastructure. They made political decisions to prioritise these things.’

Now that all of Wicklow’s TDs hail from the north of the county, Deputy Matthews said that is not a barrier to representing all of Wicklow.

‘For five years I was the only Green Party representative on the council,’ he said. ‘I had a lot of contact with people from all