Two Offaly residents appointed to new roles with Green Party locally

The Laois-Offaly branch of the Green Party appointed Cllr Mark Hackett as its chairperson at its recent AGM.

Cllr Hackett represents the Edenderry electoral area on the Offaly County Council, having been co-opted to replace his wife, Pippa Hackett, when she was appointed to Seanad Eireann last year.

"There's a new energy in the Laois-Offaly branch and I'm delighted to be chairing such an enthusiastic group," said Cllr Hackett.

"We have a new team of officers and four new local area reps working to connect with local communities."

The branch has also appointed a Tullamore representative.

Mieke Scholte, a Dutch national living in Ireland for 32 years, is known throughout the constituency for her work with the Green Schools initiative. She worked with Offaly and Laois schools from 2008 until her retirement in 2017.

"I assisted schools to engage with the travel theme of the programme: encouraging walking and cycling to school, do safety assessments with pupils, teachers and parents on walking-and cycling routes to school and liaising with local authorities to improve the road safety on those routes among other tasks," she said.

Ms Scholte has worked on the election campaigns of Senator Pippa Hackett, who is now a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine.

"As a Green Party representative in the Tullamore Electoral Area I see myself as a point of contact for members and future members, providing a space where people can express their views, concerns and ideas on environmental issues and the party," she commented.

"As we need to change the ways we live and decisions for concrete action have to be taken, it is important to me that we include everyone, especially the vulnerable members of our society when we consider the impact of our measures to lower our carbon footprint."