CIARAN MAKES FORAY INTO POLITICAL RING

FACE TO FACE WITH CIARAN MULOOLY

FORMER RTE MIDLANDS CORRESPONDENT CIARAN MULLOOLY IS RUNNING FOR THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS IN JUNE IN THE MIDLANDS/ NORTH WEST CONSTITUENCY AND OUTLINES TO GERRY MCLAUGHLIN HOW HIS BACKGROUND IN JOURNALISM AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MAKES HIM AN IDEAL CANDIDATE TO BECOME AN MEP

FOR just over 28 years, Ciar an Mullooly was the booming voice of RTE as its Midlands correspondent. The retired journalist also managed to pack in a role with many community bodies for over 35 years.

But Ciaran, at the age of 57, and the father of two boys is moving from a life behind the mic to entering the political arena as an independent candidate for the Midlands North West in the upcoming European elections.

Ciaran only made up his mind two weeks ago and has just six weeks to make his casebut then he has been working to tight deadlines as a journalist for most of his highly active life.

When The Sligo Champion caught up with him, he was en route to Killybegs as the hunt for votes began for a man who is running for the Independent Ireland Party which is headed up by Michael Fitzmaurice TD for East Galway and Roscommon.

When asked for the background to his decision to run, he constantly references his long stint in community work which is often governed by EU laws.

Ciaran feels they need to be changed to make it easier for local groups to access funding.

The housing crisis is also a major issue and the hand of Europe is also in this sphere and he feels that reform of legislation is also needed here. to allow more houses to be built in certain areas and for relaxation of the strict EU laws on living in rural Ireland.

And he feels his journalistic training will be of benefit in swiftly digesting the mountain of material in Brussells.

He left RTE in June 2021 and he went to a community development job in rural County Roscommon.

It suited him as it involved working with community groups and disadvantaged groups, older people, refugees and those suffering from dementia.

He has a degree in community development which he gained while working with RTE so he wanted to make use of it in some way.

“I have been involved in community development for over 35 years but no matter what you want to do in grant aid in Sligo or anywhere else in terms of projects you are bound by EU laws.

“The level of grant aid needs to be increased.” When asked why he chose Europe over running for the Dail; or county council, he said:

“It is fairly accepted that 90 per cent of the legislation that we have in this country comes from Europe.

“So those rules are laid down by the European Commission and they are supposed to be scrutinised by the European parliament but that is not happening.

“We are signing laws coming into the Dáil that have never been scrutinised and the Habitat Acts can put people out of their homes in Special Areas of Conservation and should be treated as an emergency but I have seen five cases where people were not treated as emergency cases so I want to try to examine these laws and change them and not have the laws driving people of their farms.

“A big issue with me who comes from a rural background, is the proposed culling of the national herd.

“Farmers are not stupid, they know about emissions through Teagasc and the Greens are obsessed with just cutting the numbers which makes no sense.”

When asked what he felt were some of the main issues in Sligo he said it was “the cost of living which is the same everywhere.”

“The price of electricity, the price of petrol, the price of accommodation and these are all European issues as well because these prices are also regulated.”

He said that so many EU laws were causing considerable stress.

Ciaran admitted that it was a big leap into the European arena but that he had a good background as a community activist.

“I come to this campaign for Europe with 35 years experience as a community development worker with experience in applying for funding at European level.

“I am not afraid to stand up and put a comprehensive argument to any organisation at Dublin or European level.”

He added: “An example of that would be if a Tidy Towns or community group in any part of Sligo want to apply for a grant they have to come up with matching funding and bridging funding.

“Nobody gets the cost of the project up front so they have to borrow the money from the Credit Union or wherever and then spend it and then claim it back.

“I will be saying that community development groups should be entitled to 90 per cent up front for projects.

“So they don’t have to go and organise functions to raise money for initial funding and they can concentrate on the job in hand.

“At present they have to borrow the money at 7-9 per cent interest rates.

“The law can be changed to allow these groups to be recognised as community and not business groups.

“Currently, the grants allocation is 80 per cent from the funders with 20 per cent to be accessed locally.

“I will be calling for the grant to be increased to 95 per cent of the grant and provided up front.”

He added that he also wanted a reduction in the level of “matched funding as community groups just cannot do it.”

Ciaran said he knew a number of great community workers in Strandhill and they can’t afford to put a programme together.

“If you are having a job costing €400,000 you would have to find €100,000 right away.

Meanwhile Ciaran referenced the lack of housing as a huge issue all over the region.

“People have said to me that

IT IS FAIRLY ACCEPTED THAT 90 PER CENT OF THE LEGISLATION THAT WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY COMES FROM EU

Europe has nothing to do with housing and I don’t agree with that.

“Our planning laws in this country are coming from Europe.

“At the moment we are operating under the Department of Environment guidelines which set down the number of houses you can have in an area.

“But those laws also come from Europe.

“So there is a role for Europe in all of this.

“At the end of the day it is the Irish government who will build the houses but there is a need to increase the density of houses in some areas, and there is also a need to make it easier to build in rural areas.

“But the Habitats Act is a major issue as it stops people building in rural areas.

“I passionately believe that people from the community having a right to live in their own community.

“In some counties planning is very restrictive and in housing crisis we need to have a more flexible attitude towards planning laws in a lovely county like Sligo.

“We are following the EU in this and those regulations needed to be challenged and amended.

“We have to do something about housing as it is an emergency.”

Immigration is likely to be a major issue in the European elections and Ciaran has some very clear views and experience on this thorny subject.

He worked with the Roscommon Leader Partnership for three years with the Ukrainian community.

“I believe Ireland did the right thing in supporting the Ukrainian community.

“Ours is a programme that provided for housing for 70 refugees.

“The key is that we consulted with the local community and the building had been a derelict building and we brought the public in and we showed them the plans.

“The community signed up 100 per cent because they saw that there was a crying need for people affected by the conflict with Russia to be given a home.”

“The key is consultation as we also spoke to the owners of the property and not only did the community support the project they came on board putting in beds, organising the blankets and making beds and painted the building.”

He added that the problem around the country is the “lack of consultation where the government or the department has been coming in and forcing these accommodations.”

“That cannot be allowed to happen. I think that the Ukrainian crisis re accommodation is probably over because of the change in the law and the reduction in the level of payments which have been reduced to €38 per week for new arrivals.”

On the question of farming he said he would work with farmers to ensure there was no culling of the national herd.

“I am totally opposed it and we need to look at alternatives like the diet of cattle using different means of reducing the omissions and I am not anti- Green at all.

“Farmers are not anti- Green but it is the way that we apply these rules.

“Sligo farmers are part of a multi-million euro food busines s that has up to 70 billion in exports per year.

“We need to protect that sector.”

And Ciaran has been involved in tourism for over 20 years.

“I see at first hand the natural beauty of Sligo as I am a regular visitor to Strandhill and Rosses Point.

“I see the actual pain that is going through the tourism industry with the penal VAT rate at the moment.

“The industry needs more support with the employment of staff and is a huge factor in places like Sligo which has a growing tourist potential.”

He continued: “But we need EU and Irish support and the EU can do this as it has funding to support areas like the environment and flora and fauna and Strandhill is one of the key sites in the country in terms of its beach and flora and fauna.

“Subsidies and grant aid is needed for tourism in Sligo and beyond to employers and we have sadly seen so many places going to the wall.

“We can’t stand idly by and we need to provide this badly needed help as was done during Covid.”

Ciaran added that some hotels might need help to look after the Ukrainian community during the summer months.

But he warned that “there is a lot of profiteering going on with regard to the accommodation being provided.

“It would be better for the State doing up their own derelict buildings rather than seeing the profiteering where some people are making millions on the back of refugees and asylum seekers.”

When asked how his background in journalism would help in Brussells, he said there were mountains of pages of legislation with around 20,000 lobbyists for the MEPS.

“Journalism has given me one fine art and that is cutting to the chase.

“I can break down a policy document in a matter of hours and sometimes in minutes depending on the size of the document.

“I have got reports for RTE like the Abbeylara inquiry at 5pm and you had to have a 90 second summary of the report on the Six O’Clock News.”

“I am expected to be articulate but it is more important to be able to summarise policy and change policy where necessary”

Ciaran is standing for the Independent Ireland party and is hoping to a have a European and Irish team when the election is over to make sure that when EU laws are passed that they are also followed in the Dail.

He added that he had been in discussion with Michael Fitzmaurice for quite some time and he likes the idea that there is no party whip so a representative can vote with their conscience and beliefs.

“The elections are just six weeks away and it is a very hard election to fight as you are talking about twelve counties from Carlingford Lough in Louth to Sligo and Donegal.

And he is a strong supporter of the re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor.

“The Green Party have a very strong focus on electric vehicles but we have seen in the last few months that electric vehicles are not the answer for a lot of people in Sligo and in rural Ireland because of the charging issues.

“Whereas the rail corridor presents a steady, reliable low sustainability form of travel.

“And that is what the Greens want but they are not putting enough money into it.

“I want to see that line opening up the whole region in terms of business, and it would be environmentally friendly with less cars on an N17 roadway that is so dangerous between Collooney and Charlestown.

“And it would also be a huge boost for tourism as it would link the Mid West Region and open it all up without the ridiculous situation where people sometimes have to go to Dublin to get down to Sligo or Galway. “That is just crazy.”

“But above all I am in favour of it because it is sustainable with low carbon emissions and the Greens are guilty of not supporting it.

“Eamon Ryan has a report on his desk for several months asking him to enhance the line.

“He has been repeatedly been asked to help reopen the line but he hasn’t done it because his party has a major focus on cars and he should be practical about things and take at real look at something that would change people’s lives and that is a certainty.”

When asked about the N17 he said he was “shocked” at how poor the road has become.

“I was with my family on holidays in Strandhill during the Halloween break and we went down to Galway.

“There are high speeds being used and the road is not able for it in many locations.

“So again there is a difficulty here in that our current government with a strong Green influence has not made our national roads a priority and their focus is on city travel and your electric cars and bicycles which are not practical for people on long journeys.

“People from Sligo and Mayo are losing their lives on this road which is becoming a real death trap.”

He continued: “But it is not as if they don’t have the money.

“They are just saying that it is just not government policy and their emphasis is on electric cars.

“It is the wrong allocation of the funding and this country is not in a bad position financially.

“I look forward to people like Michael Fitzmaurice coming into power and changing this mind set.

“And we also have other TD’s like Richard O’Donoghue in Limerick and Michael Collins in Cork so we are growing all the time.”

Ciaran believes that the Independent Ireland party could finish up with between five and ten TD’s in a new Dail after the next General Election.

“They are also fielding around 55 candidates in the local elections.

“There are a number of people in the Sligo area who will be running for the party.

“Some of those candidates will do very well and get over 1,000 votes and that is a good launching pad for a TD.

“I believe we will see Sligo local election candidates emerging as Dáil candidates.”

So what will he bring to Europe, if elected?

“In a nutshell, common sense and I have shown in over 30 years of community development and broadcasting that I am on an even keel most of the time.

“But I hope I am practical and we need the Rail Corridor.”