Two Green Party councillors in Dublin have left the party.
Ballyfermot-Drimnagh councillor Sophie Nicoullaud and Tallaght councillor Liam Sinclair have told the party they are rescinding their membership, according to The Irish Examiner.
The resignations come after a number of high-profile Green members left last year over “toxicity” within the party and an alleged drift from policies.
Ms Nicoullaud, originally from France, has been a member of the Green Party since 2009.
She was elected a councillor in the 2019 local election in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh. She is the third Green councillor to resign since the party formed a Government coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in June 2020.
Ms Nicoullaud and Mr Sinclair were both against entering the coalition but said they accepted the members' vote at the time.
“I voted for Catherine Martin and I was hoping Eamon would have given his turn to lead the party to Catherine after he had that position for years: It would have been a progressive gesture,” Ms Nicoullaud told The Examiner.
“I cannot be part of a Government who didn't ban co-living on its first day in office. The Green Party is nowhere to be seen in this Government but only the reflection of the two majority parties in this coalition,” she added.
Ms Nicoullaud will now take her seat as an Independent councillor on Dublin City Council.
Mr Sinclair said he felt forced to leave as his constituents were not being looked out for in Government. “I'm based in Tallaght, the message we received on the doors weren't the ones included in the PFG [programme for Government] and there was nothing in it that I reckoned would help working people," he said.
Mr Sinclair will sit on South Dublin County Council as an Independent.
