Kerry People Party candidate to contest local elections
‘IT’S NOT FAR-RIGHT TO WORRY ABOUT HOUSING FOR YOUR CHILDREN’
EDDIE O’Grady is a Tralee native who works as a self-employed physiotherapist. He is contesting the Tralee Municipal District election in June for The People Party, which seeks to bring together contenders who would normally run as Independents.
The party’s aim is to encourage candidates to ‘act, speak, and vote’ according to their own conscience, without being curtailed by strict party guidelines. It has a strong focus on immigration and believes the country is ‘rapidly being destroyed’ by extreme Government policies.
Below is a questions-and-answers session with Mr O’Grady:
Question: What motivates The People Party?
Answer: I’ve been watching different parties for the last number of years, and you see all this talk about far-right. I would generally be more left leaning. There is something going on in Ireland that people aren’t very happy about. There seems to be an air of misery and depression. We seem to have lost our sense of community that has rapidly progressed since Covid. There is a lack of hope, and people feel politicians have let them down. They feel the politicians are just doing what they decide, and the public have no input anymore... there is more division, and for some reason it feels deliberate. If you go back a few years, if someone was gay, no one cared; if someone was a foreigner, no one cared. It feels now like there is tension that has been created.
Q: What is your main pitch to Tralee voters?
A: We need a sensible and controlled immigration policy. The party isn’t against [inward] migration but it is against uncontrolled and unvetted [inward] migration. I have to say, this is a party of independents, so there will be very different views across the board. I wouldn’t be extreme at all, just bring back a bit of common sense and get communities back.
Q: How do you feel immigration has impacted Tralee?
A: I remember in the early 2000s when the Eastern Europeans came. They came and worked in jobs that a lot of people here turned their nose at. I was in retail at the time and there was a fierce shortage of staff. They came in and worked hard, they drove on the economy and there were houses for them to stay in and rent. Now, you have a government who tries to make out it is empathetic but it’s packing people into asylum centres where certain people make massive profit… some of these places are like open prisons. These people are naturally not going to be able to spend money and contribute to the economy in the same way.
Q: Do you accept any form of immigration?
A: We’re not against [inward] migration, it’s just it needs to be controlled and done sensibly. This would give these people a better life rather than putting them in tents on the side of a street. If you’re bringing someone in, they have to be able to have a life and have the chance to work. You don’t want this divide between people, something that wasn’t there before. You want a society where people can integrate and there is no animosity. People get agitated when the proper information isn’t told to them.
Q: What’s your response to those who say such views are motivated by far-right thinking?
A: We haven’t really got off the ground as a party. There might be members of the party that have different views, some might be more right-wing than others. I would be among the most moderate, I want middle-ground and common-sense politics. If you call me far-right, I would take offence to it. I am not far-right, if I was I would tell you…I don’t want any extremists; I don’t want an extremist on the right or left. They are both as dangerous as each other in their own way.
Q: What is it that you feel sitting councillors in Kerry are not doing for people?
A: These things aren’t as simple as they are laid out. There are probably orders coming from higher powers. I would feel that Kerry County Council is just told to find accommodation for people, or the accommodation is found already and there might be no consultation with councillors. I would speak up a bit more because I would not be aligned to a party as such. I am not doing politics because I want to be a politician. I’m doing it just because the way the country is going. I hope I would be a bit more honest with what is going on. I would not be playing the card just to move my political career on. Everyone in [The People Party] has a free hand and it’s to try get in and break the system that is there.
Q: Do you think voters are saying one thing in private about immigration and another in public?
A: I think people feel they have enough of what is going on. They feel there is too many people coming in. I think the majority of people are not farright like they are being portrayed; it’s not far right to worry about a house for your children. That worry wasn’t there before, and people weren’t blaming Polish people. What happens is when people’s backs are against the wall, things have got tight for people and they have other worries. They are asking ‘why are they [government] spending money on them when our own people are homeless people and people struggling?’ You must manage the country like a business, and efficiently.
Q: The People Party says Government and media have ‘used and abused’ natural empathy, can you give me an example?
A: Take the Ukrainian war when there was a lot of people who wanted to help them. They were told it was women and children. I don’t blame a young fella for running away from war and I wouldn’t judge them for that. But when people started to see more and more men who are not from Ukraine going into places…I don’t really blame these people, I blame the Government, full stop. They have left it totally open. I would have sympathy for a lot of these people.
Q: What is the first thing you will do if elected to Kerry County Council?
A: I would just be honest. There is no point in me telling you I will get this or that bridge fixed. I would try to be honest and do the best I can for the people. There is no point in making false promises. I will do my best and be honest with people and look after small businesses and farmers, who are the lifeblood of the country.