‘I WANT TO TRY TO MAKE CHANGES FOR THE BETTER’
party was suggested to her by a friend who was fed up listening to her complain about the news.
‘It was the early 2000s, when things were getting difficult and I was talking back to the radio every time the news was on,’ she says. ‘I was also giving out to friends, a lot. Labour had that trade union affiliation, social justice, equality.’
After about six years as a member, she decided to try her luck in the local elections.
‘A local councillor left the party and in 2014 it was suggested that I run,’ she says. ‘We were in Government and people were a little hostile to us then, so I knew my chances were pretty slim. But I also thought it would be a few months of an incredible learning experience.’
She ran in the Beaumont/Donaghmede ward and took the last seat.
‘It can be a talk shop sometimes,’ she says of Dublin City Council. ‘I learned it takes time for people to talk through the issues before they’re ready for solutions.’ There was another election in 2019, when the ward was split in two. She ran again, this time in the Artane/Whitehall area, and was once again voted in.
The other big concern she mentioned in her speech on Monday night, is housing. ‘We are in such a crisis,’ she says.
Back when she was working in Darndale, in her first teaching job, she shared a house in Booterstown, a very nice suburb in south county Dublin with four friends. They each had their own bedroom and she thinks she paid about €300 a month at the time.
‘Rents are so disproportionate to income now,’ she says. ‘I would be very concerned for the future. There’s such an emphasis on home ownership and the minute it’s bought it’s like people want prices to increase so there’s a value on it. But it’s your home, we have to move away from thinking of housing as a commodity.’
As Lord Mayor, which is a largely ceremonial role, what does she think she can do to help the situation? ‘A lot of it is voicing the issues,’ she says. ‘I’ll continue on the council’s housing policy committee, I’ve been the chair of that for two years.’
One of the projects she’s been working on is nailing down a definition of what public housing means in Ireland.
‘Everyone talks about public housing but there’s no definition. There’s social housing, which is what the council provides, a cost rental model and then there will be affordable purchase, once it’s legislated for.
‘So public housing means different things to different people.’
About two years ago, Gilliland and former lord mayor Paul McAuliffe set up a symposium at the Mansion House to which they invited housing experts and stakeholders.
‘We presented them with a definition of public housing to discuss,’ she says. ‘Then we took the feedback into the housing policy committee.
We’ve put a position paper together, which looks at defining public housing as housing that is provided by your local authority or their nominee.
‘It’s open to anyone, regardless of their income and would be rented at an affordable rent proportionate to your income. It’s not going to happen any time soon because our social housing lists are so long, but it’s the ideal.
We did have a lot of debate over purchase [people being able to buy the houses], but part of the reason that we are where we are is because local authorities sold off so many of the houses, we don’t have the stock now.
‘So the idea of it being rental means we retain the asset. We give someone a home at an affordable rent for as long as they want it. Then we turn it over again.’
Gilliland, who is single, feels hugely fortunate that she was recently able to buy her own home in Artane.
‘I bought an apartment in 2005 on my own,’ she says. ‘I sold it and bought a doer-up house in Artane at Christmas. I feel really lucky, I couldn’t do it now, the way prices have gone.’
One of the perks of her new job will be living in the apartment on the first floor of the Mansion Hotel. It’s currently being prepared for her to move in.
‘It’s like having a ringside seat to see how the city works,’ she says. ‘Being right in the centre and able to walk around whenever you have a free moment.
‘Pre-pandemic I did socialise in town, I worked in Parnell Square and usually went out with friends on a Friday night. Woodfire Pizza on Blessington Street was a spot we regularly went to. It’s really gorgeous, a real neighbourhood place.
‘This evening I’m going to take a wander up to Merrion Row before I head home, to see how it’s going for all the businesses up there.’
There’s no doubt this new gig will help raise her profile over the next year, especially as Dublin, hopefully, emerges from all the restrictions. Is there a long-term plan to try for a Dáil seat?
‘No, I don’t have a plan,’ she laughs. ‘For the next year it’s gender, housing and transitioning the city out of Covid.’
At the handover ceremony on June 28, she was joined by her mum Mavis and her three nieces, who range in ages from nine to 12.
‘We were only allowed to have very few people, ordinarily you’d be up in the chamber in City Hall and then there’d be an event in the Mansion House,’ she says. ‘But it was still lovely, mum is very proud. I’m not sure the girls were quite as impressed, I told them it would only last an hour and they were saying it went on far too long.’
At least they got to check out the authentic chain of office in all its gold and glittering glory. Not many do.
Up until a month ago, our spare room captured the messy essence of a couple planning a wedding in limbo. Bridemaids’ dresses clung to each other on the back of the door, shoes sat on top of boxes, wedding invitation envelopes and registry applications lay in piles, stamped and ready to go. Looking back it felt like serendipitous timing given another year to plan a wedding after the arrival of our baby daughter.
Months later, we bought a house just minutes away from our dream country venue and any doubts that lingered were temporarily forgotten, peppered by the idea that we could drive out on a whim and marvel at the beauty of where we would say ‘I do’. We took a trip out to have dinner and walk around the grounds last weekend and though it’s hard not to feel sentimental about what would have been, it reinforced the quiet war that had been raging in our minds since the first postponed date in March 2020. Three years after we booked it, it’s hard not to ignore the stark changes in our priorities or the incremental shifts that happen over time which make you both ponder how you truly want to spend the day.
Maybe we are fed the notion that we ought to celebrate love in a big way? When we got engaged there was no question that we wouldn’t invite everyone. I pictured walking up the aisle with an entourage around me. Now all the fuss and faff I built around the wedding feel like silly luxuries. I’m still not sure what the contents of the spare room call for next (anyone in the market for a pair of Malone Souliers shoes or a cathedral veil, just shout!) but I do know that a small gathering is the ceremonial connective tissue we always wanted, when we really listened to ourselves.
On a happier sartorial note, I took my rehearsal dress for a walk (dance) up what would have been our aisle and it reminded me why certain things in your wardrobe should never go unworn for whatever reason. So much of what we wear can transition from occasion to real life and vice versa (H&M Conscious, Ganni, Rixo and Irish designer Fee G are all labels I adore) but a fitted maxi in a good quality jersey or ribbed cotton fabric looks just as impactful too. A note to remember when styling – don’t take floor length too literally. If you’re petite, a shorter calf-length version more than measures up. The one I’m wearing is shin-length with enough shapely roominess to conceal two sneaky pockets (a bonus when you’re never without a bib or bottle) and makes me realise why I fell in love with the freedom and swishiness of a longer hemline all those years ago. It makes me feel comfortable and confident, like the best version of myself. The heart wants what it wants.