Trevor Sargent

Trevor Sargent (born 26 July 1960) is a minister of the Church of Ireland and a former Irish Green Party politician who served as a Minister of State from 2007 to 2010 and Leader of the Green Party from 2001 to 2007. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North constituency from 1992 to 2011.^[1]

Career

Teaching career

Sargent trained as a primary school teacher in the Church of Ireland College of Education. In 1981, he started teaching in the Model School, Dunmanway, County Cork. In 1983, he was appointed Principal of St George's National School, Balbriggan, County Dublin. He is a fluent Irish speaker.^[2]

Local politics

A committed environmentalist since the early 1980s, Trevor Sargent first became politically active when he joined the Green Party in 1982. However, it was not until 1989 that the Green Party made an impact in national politics, winning its first seat in Dáil Éireann through Roger Garland. In that same year Sargent stood for in the European Parliament election in Dublin, but was unsuccessful. Two years later in 1991, he was elected to Dublin County Council.^{[citation needed]}

At a meeting of the council, he waved a cheque he had received in the post from a builder who was seeking to rezone land for a housing development. When he asked the other members whether any of them had also received cheques, he was assaulted by a number of his fellow councillors. Sargent alleged that Fianna Fáil Councillor Don Lydon put him in a headlock and attempted to snatch the cheque from him.^[3] This is one of the incidents which eventually led to the creation of the Mahon Tribunal to look into planning matters in Dublin County Council.^{[citation needed]}

Dáil Éireann

At the 1992 general election, he was elected to Dáil Éireann and retained his seat at the 1997, 2002 and 2007 general elections, topping the poll in 2002.^[4] Having been elected to the Dáil, he resigned his county council seat in keeping with Green Party policy on dual mandates. This became a legal requirement in 2003. Having been the only Green Party member of the Dáil between 1992 and 1997, Sargent was joined in 1997 by John Gormley, and in 2002 by an additional four Green Party TDs.

At a special Leadership Convention in Kilkenny on 6 October 2001, Sargent was elected the first official leader of the Green Party. He was re-elected to this position in 2003 and again in 2005. Ahead of the 2007 general election, Sargent had committed that he would not lead the party into government with Fianna Fáil. After the election, the Green Party entered talks on forming a coalition government with Fianna Fáil. A programme for government was agreed after over a week of negotiations, which was ratified by 86% by a special conference of the Green Party membership, following passionate endorsements of the deal by Sargent and the rest of the Green leadership. However, Sargent announced that he would resign his position as leader of the party and would not accept a seat in cabinet. He was succeeded as leader by John Gormley.

The 27th Government of Ireland led by Bertie Ahern was formed on 14 June 2007, with the Greens given two seats at cabinet. On 20 June 2007, Sargent was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with responsibility for Food and Horticulture.^[5][6] He was re-appointed by the 28th Government of Ireland when Brian Cowen succeeded Ahern as Taoiseach on 7 May 2008.^[7][8] When Cowen reduced the number of Ministers of State on 22 April 2009, Sargent was given the additional post of Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for Food Safety.^[9][10][11]

On 23 February 2010, he resigned as a Minister of State when he admitted unlawfully contacting Gardaí about a criminal case involving a constituent who had been assaulted.^[12] He lost his seat at the 2011 general election, along with all the other Green Party TDs.

After politics

In March 2012, he published his debut book, Trevor's Kitchen Garden, a week-by-week manual and diary in book form about growing food in a small garden, based on his blog of the same name.^[13]

Sargent was trained as a Church of Ireland cleric, at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, and also studied for a master's degree in theology from Trinity College Dublin. In August 2017 he was ordained a deacon in the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cashel and Ossory.^[14] He was ordained priest in Christchurch Cathedral, Waterford city on 8 September 2018.^[15]

Media

Sargent has made many appearances on the Irish-language TV channel TG4. He was a guest judge on TG4's Feirm Factor and a guest gardener for Season 2 of Garrai Glas in 2011. He also made an appearance on The Podge and Rodge Show on 10 April 2006.

Personal life

Sargent lived in Balbriggan for 30 years. In 1987 he helped found Sonairte, The National Ecology Centre, in Laytown, County Meath and served as chairman. He has been active in GIY Ireland.^[16] In 1998, he married Heidi Bedell, a former local councilor, and one-time co-ordinator of the Green Party; they divorced in 2013. Sargent lived with his second wife, Aine Neville, in Tacumshin, County Wexford, where they developed an organic horticulture enterprise.^[13] They were also members of the Wexford Naturalists' field club.

References