Bookies predict Greens election shock
»»odds slashed on Mchugh win »»28-year-old hits out at trump
BOOKIES have slashed the odds on Green Party candidate Saoirse Mchugh causing a major shock in tomorrow’s European elections.
The 28-year-old’s takedown of rival Peter Casey over immigration on RTE’S Prime Time and her coolness under pressure has won over many.
She demolished the businessman’s arguments claiming that “millionaires blaming migrants is an old trope and it’s boring”.
Ms Mchugh also accused the tycoon of using the democratic system to get himself noticed saying: “Go on Dancing With The Stars if you want attention that much, Peter.”
She described Donald Trump as “dangerous” and a “crook” and insisted Ireland needs to send him a powerful message next month.
And the Co Mayo woman now has the 72-year-old billionaire firmly in her sights and stressed we need to “double down on our [environmental] efforts”.
Ms Mchugh, who is planning to send the US President a message when he arrives on June 5, told the Irish Mirror: “I haven’t figured out what my protest will be yet.
“I’m wondering will I go for the hardcore big banner or will it be a silent protest, anyway I haven’t decided on that.
“I think he’s an absolute disgrace and a dose.
“He is dangerous. In the beginning I thought, ‘Oh this is all an act’ but what he has tapped into is a really dangerous and really racist sentiment.
“And I do think he will mark a really shameful period in US political history.”
The Midlands-north West candidate, who has seen her odds with a leading bookie slashed from 50-1 on Tuesday to 11-1 yesterday afternoon, added: “People like him are all the more reason we need to double down on our efforts.
“I know it can feel futile because people can say, ‘Oh Ireland is so small’. But we can only legislate for ourselves and we can only lead.
“It would be disappointing [if Trump gets a big welcome] because he represents the very worst of our society and there are very few people who think he’s right. He’s a racist, he’s reckless, he has worked to dismantle so many environmental protections, he is totally in the pocket of big business and by all accounts he is a crook.” Ms Mchugh said climate change, nature loss and plastic pollution are some of the big concerns this country is facing and she has called on the public to vote Green tomorrow.
The first-time candidate added: “It’s not even just the environment because you can’t talk about jobs or agriculture or fisheries or social protection without talking about the environment anymore.
“So what is going to happen if we keep resisting making positive, proactive changes it is going to be places like Achill [Island off coast of Co Mayo] and it’s going to be people who are the poorest in our society in the most disadvantaged areas that are going to suffer the most.”
Ms Mchugh only joined the
Green Party eight months ago and she said her family has no political affiliation but would regularly discuss news and current affairs.
The sustainable agriculture graduate said she approached “any politician who would listen” about food sovereignty – which allows communities control over the way food is produced, traded and consumed. Global warming expert Karin Dubsky warned earlier this week “Ireland is shrinking” as parts of the country are being eroded away every year. Ms Mchugh said: “On a real personal level the house I live in, the sea has come into it up to waist height in the last five years and we often joke if the woman who owns it offered us it to buy, first of all you couldn’t buy it because you’d never get insurance and secondly you wouldn’t anyway because I’d say it’ll be gone in 20 years.”
Ms Mchugh believes it would be a “disaster” if the Greens form a coalition with Fine Gael after the General Election because they “have proven again and again they don’t care”.
She added: “There’s not one issue. “The insistence on pushing the fishing quotas up so high that means that Ireland are ranked consistently in the top three in terms of overfishing in the North Atlantic.
“Their agriculture policies are pushing people off the land, while prioritising large, export-driven dairy.
“Consistently and repeatedly they choose to side with business over the side of our environment.”
Trump’s racist, reckless, he’s worked to dismantle many environmental protections SAOIRSE MCHUGH YESTERDAY