Roger Garland

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Roger Garland (born 1933) who was educated at Castleknock College, was the Green Party's first candidate to be elected to Dáil Éireann in 1989. He represented Dublin South until 1992. In the 2002 general elections Green Party politician Eamon Ryan was elected to represent that same constituency. 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 TD but also for campaigning against the Single European Act.

The success of Roger Garland was built on with the election of 13 councillors in the June 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. In 1989 he received 8.8% and in 1992 he received 3.8% which is among the lowest votes for a sitting TD. In the 1994 European Elections, Garland backed an independent Green candidate over the offical 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 kick 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 Dail.

He is currently chairman of the Keep Ireland Open Group (KIO). This is a voluntary body made up of a large number of groups interested in the outdoors and the environment including The Irish Ramblers, An Óige, all of the Scout and Guide Associations, the United Farmers Association, Irish Wildlife Trust, Association of Irish Riding Clubs, Federation of Local History Society and numerous walking groups as well as others. Their aims are to achieve a network of well-marked, maintained rights-of-way in lowland areas to allow short walks and to reach open ground and to gain freedom to roam over rough grazing land, that is about 7% of the total land as well as minimising barbed-wire fencing in mountain areas, as it is visually intrusive and severely hinders walkers.

He is also a current member of the environmental board of An Taisce the National Trust For Ireland, its most influential environmental body.