It's an unusual starting place when looking at the Green Party convention schedule this weekend to think of the British comedy, Monty Pyton's Life of Brian.
In what has become a frequently used cultural reference, the fictional rebels try to drum up opposition to the empire by asking: "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
This weekend, the junior coalition party are trying to invoke some of this sarcastic rhetoric, with a session entitled: "What have the Green Party ever done for us?"
The answer, speaking to many in the party ahead of the gathering, is as obvious as the Roman's providing sanitation, medicine, public order, roads and wine.
"We're not just about reducing carbon emissions and restoring nature," rattles off one representative.
"We are about warmer homes, cheaper transport, cleaner air and water and help with raising your kids."
As TDs, Senators and the wider membership gather in Cork city this weekend, they will be aware of the need to get this message across as they enter into an election year.
"The time for talking about policies is over, it is time to wrap it all together," said one party figure. "There is a determination to get back in!"
Getting back in is, at this point, looking like a hard ask. There is a view in the party that to enter coalition talks after the next election, the Green Party would have to return six Dáil seats. Anything smaller and they would be looking at a period of rebuilding. But there is also a sense that if they don't, then much of the policy progress made in this term could be squandered.
But first, there will be the local and European elections next June. In what he himself has conceded are "madly ambitious" targets, the party leader Eamon Ryan hopes to double the party's representation to 100 seats at local authority level.
It also hopes to win three seats in the European elections, with sitting MEPs Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O'Sullivan looking to retain their seats, and Senator Pauline O'Reilly looking to join them with a seat for Ireland North-West.
In the same elections in 2019, the party defied all expectations and hit new heights.
Eight years after it had been eviscerated (having lost all its Dáil seats in the 2011 general election) Ciarán Cuffee was topping the poll in Dublin while the party picked up 5.5% of the vote share nationally picking up 49 local authority seats.
In the general election a year later, it won 7% of the popular vote, returning 12 TDs.
The party were on a different tide at that time. It was the height of school protests, inspired by the activism of Greta Thunberg. Green parties across Europe were doing well.
Now there is a sense in the party that while people are more aware that climate change is real, there is a sense of resignation around what can be done. The Green Party wants to emphasise that the point of no return has not been passed, it is still possible to change the trajectory.
The party also believes that being in Government - far from being a drawback, is something it is working to its advantage and an opportunity it will not squander.
Using a biking analogy, Mr Ryan has argued that rather than being the "mudguard" of the coalition, as smaller parties often are, the Greens are the "the front wheel" in the current arrangement.
Its bruising experience of government with Fianna Fáil and independents from 2007 to 2011, has informed a lot of its thinking this time around.
"We are in good space," said one party stalwart.
"You only have to compare this time out with last time. Last time out there was no money, it was cut cut cut. This time out there is plenty of money and each of the ministers have done well, whether it's for transport, the arts or childcare."
The Greens secured a €3 billion fund in the Budget to invest in climate and nature projects, over the remainder of this decade. Climate change remains central to its agenda.
"Even if it doesn't always strike home immediately, it is our r'aison d'etre," said one long serving member.
Despite some of their climate policies leaving them open to ridicule - especially in rural Ireland where they are often seen as unpractical and not compatible with the reality of everyday rural life - this will not soften their cough.
The party will seek to retain or win back the votes of a core electorate who voted for them in the past. At the last general election the party spoke of a phenomenon where parents and grandparents said they were voting for them because their grandchildren had told them to. It will be trying to ensure the same happens again.
The Green Party knows that young people have been key to its success in the past and will be again. This task is now harder due to the growth of Sinn Féin. It remains to be seen what effect the Social Democrats with Holly Cairns as their leader, might have on the under 35 voting cohort.
To this end, the Green Party will also focus on an array of policy achievements - wider than just its climate agenda.
We are likely to hear a lot more this weekend about what it sees as "core green values" aimed at improving people's quality of life.
This includes a cut in public transport fees by 20% for adults and a further 50% for people under the age of 26; financially supporting 2,000 artists across the country with the Basic Income for the Arts.
There will also be a big play on cutting childcare bills "for young parents" by an average of 25% with a further 25% to come from next September.
The Green Party knows more than anyone that the electoral tide can go out as easy as it flows in. Over the coming years it will hope that it flows in its favour.
