The Corkman

Yes, we do have a minister

O’BRIEN GETS COMMUNITY DEVT. AND CHARITIES PORTFOLIO IN NEW GOVT.

- CONCUBHAR Ó LIATHÁIN

NORTH Cork does, in fact, have a junior minister in the new government - just not the one people may have expected.

Joe O’Brien of the Green Party, a TD from Dublin Fingal but who hails originally from Grenagh, has been appointed as the Minister with responsibi­lity for Community Developmen­t and Charities, a crucial role at present.

Meanwhile, while he was ‘irate’ when he first learned of his non-inclusion in the ranks of the junior ministers, Cork North West TD Michael Moynihan is now focussing on delivering as much as possible for his constituen­ts during the term of this Government.

As he put it himself, he had taken “a lot of s**t” on behalf of the current Taoiseach” only to see himself passed over.

As for the new Minister O’Brien, whose brother Frank is still in Grenagh, he plans to be in Cork a lot more often now.

DON’T tell anyone but Cork has an extra ministry in the new Government that we’re not talking about following the furore over the plum roles netted by three TDs from Cork South Central.

Joe O’Brien of the Green Party, a TD from Dublin Fingal but who hails originally from Grenagh in mid Cork, was among those nominated for a Junior Minister’s role in the Government last week.

The Grenagh man has been appointed as the Minister with responsibi­lity for Community Developmen­t and Charities, a crucial role at present due to the crisis in funding many charities and community associatio­ns are facing due to the curtailmen­t of fundraisin­g activities because of COVID-19.

“My immediate priority is to get a handle on what the community response has been during COVID-19 and I note how it’s stepped up to the plate in this time.”

The newly minted Junior Minister had been working more or less since he left Cork, where he had studied in UCC, in the Community and Voluntary sector.

During his time in Cork he worked in what’s now known as the Cork Training Support Centre and, also, he spent a few years working in the Probation Hostel on Patrick’s Hill.

He moved to Dublin where he undertook a Masters in Trinity College, met his wife and eventually moved to Skerries in north Dublin where he joined the Green Party in 2007.

“I felt this was ‘ home’ and I wanted to get involved and make a contributi­on.”

In 2012 he was first nominated to run for the party in Council elections and he was narrowly defeated in the 2014 elections.

His major breakthrou­gh was in the November by-elections when he came out on top in a hard fought race to fill the vacancy left by Clare Daly’s election to the European Parliament.

In his new role, he plans to be in Cork a lot more often than he had been previously. His brother Frank is still in Grenagh and his mother is in a care home in Cork city.

He had previously been the Green Party’s Spokesman for Transport, a role which did not endear him to the supporters of the Cork-Limerick M20 corridor via Mallow and Charlevill­e. Some Green TDs had expressed doubt that this would go ahead despite being announced in the weeks after the General Election as they felt it would be very expensive and also the wrong signal to send at a time when the Government policy is to reduce carbon emissions by an average of seven per cent per year between now and 2030.

In recent weeks the pressure around the N20 and the Green stance on building major roads appears to have abated as a number of Green spokespers­ons have said that the road is likely to be built along the current corridor, via Mallow and Charlevill­e but the Greens have also laid emphasis on their need to see a rebalancin­g of transport infrastruc­ture with more being invested in public transport than road infrastruc­ture.

Indeed one of the travellers on that road may be Minister for State Joe O’Brien.

 ??  ?? Joe O’Brien TD, Dublin Fingal. The new Community Developmen­t and Charities Junior Minister hails from Grenagh in Mid Cork.
Joe O’Brien TD, Dublin Fingal. The new Community Developmen­t and Charities Junior Minister hails from Grenagh in Mid Cork.

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