‘Dad was killed in a road traffic accident..It never leaves you’
MEP HOPEFUL CYNTHIA WANTS CELEB TO FRONT SAFETY DRIVE
FIANNA Fáil MEP candidate Cynthia Ni Mhurchú has called for a celebrity to head up a new road safety campaign to encourage young people to stay safe.
The former Eurovision host and journalist lost her father in a road traffic accident when she was 17.
Her plea comes following several months of tragedy on our roads. Some 73 people have died so far this year, up from 56 compared to the same period last year.
Speaking to The Star, Ms Ni Mhurchú, running for Fianna Fáil in Ireland South in the upcoming European elections, said more has to be done to promote road safety.
“Our poor dad, Brendan, was killed in a road traffic accident,” she explained. “He was knocked down actually as a pedestrian when I was 17. It did define me for all of my life and still defines me.
“Any awful loss like that, a very sudden loss, very brutal, for a young person and indeed on my family,
“I don’t think that really ever not leaves an effect on you. Road safety is something I am campaigning strong and hard on.”
Ms Ni Mhurchú suggested Ireland should follow in the footsteps of other European countries and introduce “interlocks” which she describes as “effectively a breathalyser to be deployed before you can start the engine”. She said they could be rolled out as part of sanctions for people who are convicted of drink or drug-driving. However, she also suggested that more needs to be done to persuade young people to stay safe, adding: “We do need a huge education programme for kids. There is a programme, but it needs to...be rolled out even further.
Popular
“We do need somebody very iconic, very persuasive and very popular amongst young people to head up a campaign.”
At 57, Ms Ni Mhurchú, who lives in Carlow, is a first-time political candidate. She initially made her name as a journalist and went on to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin in 1994 with Gerry Ryan.
Following a stint in the spotlight, she studied law and has worked as a family law barrister for 27 years.
She admits she was a “closet supporter” of Fianna Fáil and was asked to contest an election in the early 1990s.
However, now that her children Rachel (23) and David (22) are grown up, she stated now is the right time to seek office.
Ms Ni Mhurchú said that housing will be one of her priorities if she is elected as an MEP.
When it was put to her that her Fianna Fáil colleague Darragh O’Brien has not hit a single social or affordable housing target since he became Housing Minister in 2020, Ms Ni Mhurchú said “a lot of work has been done but a lot more has got to be done”.
The European and local elections will take place across Ireland on Friday June 7.