The Green Party has suffered another major blow with the resignation of two councillors in Dublin.
Ballyfermot-Drimnagh Cllr Sophie Nicoullaud and Tallaght Cllr Liam Sinclair have both told the party they are leaving.
The resignations come as after several high-profile members left because of "toxicity" within the party last year, and an alleged drift from party policies.
Cllr Nicoullaud and Cllr Sinclair were both against entering the coalition government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, but said they initially accepted the members vote.
Cllr Nicoullaud had been a member of the Green Party since 2009.
She was elected Councillor in the 2019 local election in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh.
According to the Irish Examiner, she said: "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.
"I am disappointed Catherine is not doing any review of the Greens in Government as she said she would. I regret certain members of the party are still driving the party in their direction and not moving on to adapt to new world circumstances.
"My values and the values of the Green Party are far from being the ones of FF and FG. We need drastic changes if we want to stand a chance to stop climate change.
"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 explained that the Greens aren’t prioritising what she hoped to achieve in the party, saying: "A just transition with climate and social justice is the only way forward to feed as many people as possible on this planet."
She will now sit as an Independent on Dublin City Council and says she would be happy to work with her Green colleagues "to advance the projects we share."
"I am sad to have to leave a Green Party but this Green Party is not representative of what a Green Party should be, pushing for a CETA vote, a policy on the environment far from ambitious and protecting the private sector," she said.
Cllr Sinclair said he felt pressured to leave as his constituents were not being represented in government.
The Tallaght rep said he did not support the Programme for Government, and he didn’t believe that the carbon tax proposals were fair on the less well-off .
He also hoped there would be commitments on free public transport.
Mr Sinclair said: "I decided to jump now rather than get in a row over something.
"I bear no ill will towards my former colleagues and I hope to work together with them when it is possible to do so but in the main, we have different priorities," he added.
Cllr Sinclair will continue to sit on South Dublin County Council, also as an Independent Councillor.
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