[3] He was the first Lord Mayor to launch Dublin Gay Pride week in 1995, although his predecessor, Tomás Mac Giolla had met with participants in the March in the previous year.

[4] He also helped with the introduction of Sli na Slainte, a network of signposted walks for those seeking exercise to combat heart disease.

[5] As part of the peace process he undertook a joint visit to the United States with the Lord Mayor of Belfast Hugh Smyth, of the Progressive Unionist Party.

In the Dáil, on 15 October 1998, after Gormley declared that the Greens were the only party not to take money from the banks, Brian Cowen called him ‘an incorrigible incorruptible’.

In 2002, the business of the Dáil was suspended in uproar when Gormley insisted on getting an answer to his question regarding a tax on plastic bags.

On 16 May 2007, during the run up to the 2007 general election, Gormley emerged from a crowd of journalists to confront Michael McDowell, while he was unveiling a poster saying 'Left-Wing Government?

[15] As the new Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Gormley took over the responsibility for the decision to allow the excavation of national monuments near the historical site of the Hill of Tara to facilitate the construction of the M3 motorway.

On his final day in office, outgoing minister Dick Roche signed an order which allowed a newly discovered National Monument at Lismullin near Tara to be studied and then destroyed to make way for the building of the motorway.

[17] Gormley appointed a long-standing critic of the M3 route, Dr. Conor Newman of NUIG, to oversee the archaeological work as part of a special committee on the Lismullen site.

This had a dramatic effect according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland on the type of car sales that have occurred subsequently.

Additional funding for inspections and more severe penalties for landlords who provide substandard accommodation formed part of the initiative.

The scheme is part of a strategy to double the number of journeys made by bike by 2020, and also includes a multimillion-euro cycle-path upgrade plan.

[29] In 2014 home owners, of which a significant number were non-resident in Ireland, were facing NPPR penalties up to €7,230 which remains as a permanent charge on the property until fully paid.

The Council ultimately voted for the proposal that was advanced by Fine Gael Councillors Jim O'Leary (now resigned) and Barry Ward, but this decision was the subject of much criticism from John Gormley's Green Party colleague and local TD, Ciarán Cuffe.

[36][37][38] Mr Justice Frank Clarke eventually ruled on the case in November 2010, finding that Minister Gormley had exceeded his powers by ordering the council to change its decision.