Roger Garland (born 1933) is an environmental activist and a former Irish Green Party politician. He was the Green Party's first candidate to be elected to Dáil Éireann, representing Dublin South from 1989 to 1992.[1]
Garland was educated at Castleknock College in Dublin. The success of Roger Garland was built on with the election of 13 councillors in the 1991 Local elections. On Dublin Corporation the Greens formed a governing coalition, the Civic Alliance, to run the capital city. Garland lost his seat with a dramatic fall in his vote. At the 1989 general election he received 8.8% and at the 1992 general election he received 3.8% which was among the lowest votes for a sitting TD.[2]
At the 1994 European Parliament election, Garland backed an independent Green candidate (Peter Sweetman[3]) over the official Green candidate, Nuala Ahern, in the Leinster constituency. Ahern went on to win the seat, to the surprise of many, and an attempt was made to throw Garland out of the party for his disloyalty. Garland is still a member of the party, but is not active within it, and has not stood for any election since 1992. Some of Garland's conservative views also conflicted somewhat with members of the party during his time in the Dáil. Following the 2007 general election Garland was one of the leading internal critics of the Greens' decision to enter coalition with Fianna Fáil.
At the 2002 general election Green Party politician Eamon Ryan was elected to represent Dublin South, the same constituency as Garland. One of his Dáil advisors was Patricia McKenna who later became one of Ireland's first Green MEPs. He is not only known for being the first Green Party Teachta Dála (TD) but also for campaigning against the Single European Act.
In 1997 he helped found Friends of the Irish Environment, which is a network of Independent Environmentalists, along with other environmental activists Tony Lowes, David Healy, Peter Sweetman, and Sarah Dillon.[4]
He is currently chairman of the Keep Ireland Open (KIO) group. He is also a current member of the environmental board of An Taisce the National Trust For Ireland, its most influential environmental body.