QA NB: Not all candidates were contactable at time of conducting Q/A
1. What is your background in terms of educational and other qualifications and job experience?
2. What are the priorities you feel people in this constituency are concerned about? 3. Please list these in descending order of importance and explaining the reasons for each one. 4. If you are standing for a political party, rather than as an independent, what are the main policies of your party that would benefit the people locally in this constituency? 5. What are your personal interests outside of politics which might in some way complement your work as a TD? 1. I was a Laboratory Scientist and spent 30 years working in the hospital laboratory service in Ireland, Asia & Africa. I changed careers to Economics and have spent the past few years teaching and researching in UCC. I have a master’s in Healthcare Management and a doctorate in Business Economics.
2. Housing, health, sustainable agriculture, active transport and community development. Climate action runs through all Green Party policy proposals. For example we need to build well insulated low energy new builds and we need to retrofit the existing housing stock. We need to invest in local healthcare and promote a more active lifestyle with a healthy diet for all 3. Housing – everyone needs a secure home.
Health – accessing good quality affordable healthcare when the medical need arises is the measure of a good society.
Sustainable agriculture – We need to support farmers to make the necessary changes. They need a reasonable income that also protects the soil and water supply and moves to being carbon neutral.
Active Transport – Lack of investment in alternatives to car based journeys like buses and rail, walking and cycling infrastructure means that our lifestyle is too sedentary for our health.
Community Development – building local resilience is the way to protect the economic fortunes of communities and deal with local problems locally. 4. The Green Party stands for progressive politics which looks to promote equality of capability for all over an overly competitive market driven ideology. 5. I enjoy the cinema because it keeps me informed about the outside world. I play golf badly when time and the weather permits and this allows me to enjoy the beautiful countryside. 1. I was educated at Boherbue Comprehensive School and was a full time farmer in Kiskeam prior to my election to Dáil Eireann in 1997. 2. My priority for this constituency would be to reverse the constant attacks on rural Ireland that we have seen in recent years - the vital services that all communities need to develop and grow have been in decline, and there needs to be an urgent change in the approach of Government across all departments. We must maintain and protect our Post Offices, Schools, Garda Stations and Health services. The policy of forcing everyone into the large urban areas must change.
3. We must allow young people to make a home in their own community.
Rural areas need better public transport, more recreation facilities, and high speed broadband to thrive and grow. 4. Fianna Fáil are committed to supporting rural communities, and to building an Ireland which works for all of its people. We will deliver real improvements in our health services and end the decline of recent years. Under the leadership of Micheál Martin, we will put a new priority on housing which is affordable for people whether they want to buy or rent. We will tackle the rising cost of living with action on childcare and insurance costs, to help communities and households.
5. As a farmer I believe farmers need to make a living from an honest day’s work and get a fair price for their produce. 1. I have a BA and an MSc In Chemistry both from UCC and I currently work in the pharmaceutical industry. 2. Rural Ireland must stop being left behind and FG and FG who courted rural dwellers and Farmers have turned their backs on them. I want Cork North west to be developed in a sustainable way, the farming community and businesses must be supported in the way that foreign direct investment already enjoys in this country. Dublin is overheating and much of the east coast is now a sprawling commuter belt. The rest of Ireland is struggling and emptying of its young people
3. FG and FF act as dispensers of favours, paid for from the public purse. TDs and Senators received two pay rises last year alone.
As trollies abound, and buses cart patients’ long distances for service, the minister for health spends a million on PR. We need more front-line staff, nurses and consultants. We must preserve local services and build up central specialized facilities. Housing and homelessness Rents increased 19.15% in the Cork North West Towns last year. Families are paying over half their take home pay on rent. Average rent in Cork is hammering young families. Macroom has the shocking record of having the highest increase in rent in Ireland in 2019.
The most pressing environmental issue facing the towns of Cork North West is the poor status of their sewage treatment facilities Farming is under attack. Companies make huge profits but farners sell at a loss.
4. Cork North West has been badly neglected by central government. The political system in Ireland is broken. The current crops of Politicians are so out of touch with the people and the issues, it’s almost unbelievable. If elected I will be a voice for the voiceless and my word can be trusted. People are sick to the hind legs of empty promises from politicans. We need real and beneficial reforms now.
5. I am active in my community. I am committed and engaging and have led several campaigns on stage in Cork and Dublin. I have dedicated a significant amount of time to voluntary work with young people. 1. Educated in Coolea and Ballyvourney, I have degrees in Engineering and Marketing and Management. I was co--opted on to Cork County Council in 2003, and was re-elected in 2004, 2009, and 201. In 2014 I served as Chairman of the Macroom-Blarney Municipal Council. before being elected to Dáil Eireann in 2016
2. Improve access to Health Care, especially Mental Health, Ensure affordable and secure lifelong homes for all. Address cost of living challenges on households such as insurance and childcare costs. A fair chance at education from early childhood through to supports for third level & apprenticeships.
Help older people to stay in their homes by ensuring essential supports are in place. Support projects and initiates for Climate Action. Tacaíocht d’ár dteanga, cultúr agus aitheantas Gaelach Support rural infrastructure;
3. Health. Ensure that people can access services quickly, and that those services are as local as possible Affordable housing. In both health and housing there are huge waiting lists and difficulties in accessing services. Climate Change. The people in Cork North West are greatly concerned with the problem of climate change. However the process of dealing with Climate Change must be done in a way which is fair but urgent. Cost of living. The rising cost of Insurance for motorists, businesses and community organisations is having a major negative impact both socially and economically. Similarly the cost of childcare is affecting the ability of people to access employment 4. Build public housing on publicy owned land.
In health, End the hiring embargo for nurses and other healthcare professionals, give GPs access to diagnostics, Open diagnostics in hospitals far longer than they are now. Increase home care packages so patients can be discharged. 5. I enjoy attending community and sporting events whenever I get the chance, and it gives an opportunity to meet people in the community and hear their concerns. 1. I am a barrister and lecturer. I hold degrees from UCC, CIT and the Kings Inns. I previously worked at sea for a number of years. 2. I live in Ballincollig with my young family. I lived through the last recession and period of austerity which followed as a self-employed person and am all too familiar with the terror everyone in that position feels while worrying if they will be able to make ends meet and provide for their family, without the benefit of a safety net. became involved in politics due to my fury at the ineptitude of lack of empathy of the Civil War parties towards our locked out generations
3. Insist on the full roll out of a universal, single-tier healthcare system, while addressing the funding deficit of services for disabilities. Establish a proper Housing Delivery Agency that takes a hands-on approach to ensure the delivery of affordable supply Transition to a low- carbon, energy efficient economy through the implementation of robust emissions-reduction legislation, the promotion of public transport and cycling, while ensuring that low and middle income households never suffer fuel poverty.
Demand transparency and competition in the insurance sector to counter the price gouging which is threatening the viability of sporting clubs and creches and other small businesses and contributing to an unaffordable cost of living for us all. Continue the work begun with our Parental Leave Bill by improving funding and employment conditions within the childcare sector, while providing parents time with their children and helping employers to retain key employees. Strongly market clean, high quality green certified agricultural produce, while encouraging carbon sequestration, sustainable wood products and biomass.
4. I want to help to deliver a better quality of life for everyone here, making sure that life is about more than simply struggling to make ends meet.
5. My family! We have two young girls. I want to contribute to Cork North West being the best place in the world to grown up for them and for everyone else’s children too.
And why shouldn’t it be?