Green and keen
He's got a Fianna Fáil background, a solid Dáil seat and no beard for 20 years. Mary Regan meets the Cork man who is not your stereotypical Green politician
"I got my first pair of sandals when I was 35, and whatever beard I had, I shaved off 20 years ago."
Dan Boyle is keen to dispel the image of the Greens as a party of anti-progress protesters with unrealistic ideals. He says one of the biggest problems facing his party is that it has to deal with this stereotypical image, and it's time to move beyond it.
"We are a national party and our TDs come from many different backgrounds, with many different life experiences. We are a party with fresh ideas and we reflect the views of many people around the country."
He also wants to show that the Green party, whose roots are in a loose alignment of autonomous local groups in the late 1980s, is now a firmly established political party, prepared to enter government. "It would be good for the development of the party and the perception of it if we were to enter government. It is time that we had a chance to implement some of our policies, and prove to the electorate that these policies are effective," he says.
Despite this hope of coalition, the party is going to enter the next general election "standing on our own two feet". The Greens insist they will not to enter any pre-election pact. They are, according to Boyle, "willing to talk with other opposition parties about possibly forming a government, but we will not make any decisions until the votes are counted. And we will certainly not give up our policy objectives just to make up the numbers."
It is unlikely they will support the current Government in the next Dáil, as the Green election campaign will be largely based on criticism of the coalition.
The Green party is now concentrating resources on 15 constituencies, hoping to add to their six seats. Dan Boyle has already achieved the highest vote ever gained by a Green candidate and is expected to hold his seat in Cork South Central. He may come under pressure from Fine Gael's Deirdre Clune, who lost out to him last time, but has had her profile raised in her role as Lord Mayor of Cork.
He says the redrawing of electoral boundaries, while hurting some of his constituency colleagues, will work to his advantage. "For the first time, I'll be able to vote for myself," he says. The real battle, he reckons, will be over Fianna Fáil's third seat, with the move of Batt O'Keeffe to Cork North West.
Boyle has contested elections at every level. He has been elected twice to Cork City Council, he ran in the European elections in 1994, he contested two bye-elections, in 1994 and 1998, two general elections and two Seanad elections before eventually being elected to the Dáil in May 2002.
His father was chairman of the local Fianna Fáil cumann that first pushed forward Michael Martin for candidacy. Boyle admits his father wanted him to follow in the family footsteps, but he "reacted against" his strong Fianna Fáil roots. "Politics as religion is something I have no time for, and to me, that seemed to be how Fianna Fáil was at the time. I wanted to get involved in politics with fresh ideas." His late father eventually became a member of the Green party.
As one of only six Green TDs, Boyle has to take responsibility for a few portfolios. He is the party's spokesperson on Finance and shadows Social and Family Affairs as well as Community and Rural Affairs. This, on top of his role as party chief whip, means a huge workload, and less time in his constituency, where he'll need to return in order to secure a seat in the next election.