Potential future councillors of Pembroke South Dock

on Politics

So if you are looking at this post you are probably wondering the same thing I was, who should I vote for in the upcoming election. We really should have started looking into this earlier, maybe next time. It’s actually a lot of work to research each of these candidates and I really can’t find an easy way of finding out information about them so I’m probably going to prioritise candidates that give out the most information on the internet.

This post reflects my experience of looking for a candidate and my political views, it’s not intended to be an unbiased guide to candidates, I may get some information wrong, I didn’t try especially hard not to, if you find it useful, please take the time to say thank you in the comments. It will make my day :)

Here is a list of all the candidates running in the upcoming election, I took this from elections.org, I reordered their list though so minorities, women and less powerful parties/independents were at the the top, for no particular reason whatsoever! Why is gender important? Because of this: thejournal.ie/local-elections…

Marcin Czechowicz

Background

He is originally polish, studied in Poland, involved in student politics there. Then moved to Ireland, has lived here for 10 years, worked as a law clerk, studied international business studies and advanced business management, currently studying for a BA in Business Studies. He is involved in a website called JobSeekerSite.info. His main focus from everything there is about him on a quick Google search is about the polish community.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

I couldn’t find any manifesto online.

My opinion

I think it’s definitely important that Polish people have representatives but I feel like there isn’t enough information out there about how he actually plans to be a county councillor. I don’t know what to expect from him, which is a bad thing.

That said I really do thing that he seems like a really capable person with a real drive to succeed and a proven ability to work with others, so he does have that going for him.

Sources for my information

Nadine Meisonnave

Background

Nadine came to Ireland and worked as a waitress and receptionist while learning English before becoming an estate agent and studying property management. She now owns her own estate agent business in Baggot street. She mentions she has two small boys and is separated in her campaign literature as well.

Thing she says that might influence your vote

  • She had a meeting with some Fine Gael TDs about residential parking on narrow streets and discussed solutions from France, Germany, Australia and England.
  • Reduce Speed limits on small residential and suburban roads, from 50km to 30km.
  • Local wardens with the power to fine people for Dog Fouling (not cleaning up after your dog)
  • Ensure the city council take responsibility for cleaning up after dog fouling
  • Promote buying locally
  • Mentions parking as a problem for local business
  • We need to promote young entrepreneurs
  • Offer rates breaks to small and micro start ups for the first year
  • Gardai should monitor cyclists for breach of the traffic code
  • There should be an expansion of the cycle lanes
  • There should be a process to take in the input of all stakeholders into the strategy for cycling in Dublin
  • Dublin city should use Solar Powered Bins as they have to be emptied less often (they crush the rubbish so they can hold 5 times as much)
  • Extend the Dublin bikes scheme to Sandymount, Donnybrook and Milltown

My opinion

I really like this candidate, her ideas make sense, she is actually specific about what she wants to do and most of what she is talking about actually falls within her remit. She also has a good web presence, that I simply don’t have the time to read through fully. I really like how successful she has been in business, it makes me think that she can work well with others, she has good organisational ability. I worry of course that she will see things solely from a business perspective when that conflicts with the needs of others particularly when it comes to planning but she seems like a hard working capable person to me. My only issue is that we’d differ on the whole right/left spectrum. I still want to vote for her though.

Sources for my information

Anne Maree Quinn

Background

Anne Marie is an independent candidate so props to her for actually having a decent website. She is originally from Australia, she is an occupational therapist and involved in charities and tall ships.

Thing she says that might influence your vote

  • Will vote against any reduction in homeless services until there is a demonstrable reduction in the number of people who are homeless.
  • Reestablish neighbourhood watch schemes
  • Find solutions to traffic flow problems
  • Outdoor playground for Sandymount area
  • Level access foot paths, accessible buildings and transport
  • Provide free bags for dog litter
  • More bins in public spaces
  • Supports a directly elected mayor
  • Council of advisors to the elected mayor should come from some democratic process elected and not appointees
  • Wants to keep local post offices open, will work with residents to do so
  • Start dealing with residents issues relating to reducing traffic density, noise and damage that heavy vehicles do to homes by introducing traffic speed warning signs.
  • Work with the DCC to try secure funding to resurface the strand road

My opinion

I really like her blog posts, I find them really informative and I think she would probably do a good job but… she is pro life, which for me means she has a fundamentally different world view to mine, I’ve also seen an article on broadsheet.ie which claims that she contributes to Iona Institute blogs here:  broadsheet.ie/…opus-dei-you-say/ and a tweet by her linking to one of their blogs on Marriage Equality.

Iona Institute if you don’t know already is a catholic religious organisation that opposes Marriage Equality on the basis that Marriage should be between a man and a woman only. I don’t think the relationships that LGB people have are of less value and so I can’t vote for someone who does, no more than I can vote for someone who thinks interracial relationships are of less value or relationships where one or both of the partners can’t have children.

Although I am tempted especially given that blog post on the strand road, kind of epic:  annemareequinn.com/…traffic-on-strand-road-1.html, I love the use of statistics and a grounded solution to the problem.

Sources for my information

Claire Byrne

Background

Claire has a BSc Honours degree in Environmental Science, a Post Graduate Diploma in Event Management and Certificates in Green Business Management, Marketing & Social Media.  She has a number of years’ experience working in environmental and political campaign management, having worked for six years as personal advisor to Eamon Ryan, former Green Party TD and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources European Election Candidate 2014.  Claire now works as an Environmental Education Specialist with a local company called Real Nation, developing education programmes and events for schools nationwide. She also works for The Body&Soul Festival as their Sustainability Manager, with events collective Happenings.ie, producing pop-up cultural events across the city and occasionally guest lectures in sustainable event management in DBS and The Fitzwilliam Institute. (Stole this from greenparty.ie)

She also says she represented Eamon Ryan in both Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils.

Thing she says that might influence your vote

  • Will vote for planning that defends the interests of the local residents
  • Economic Sustainability will be part of her decision making
  • She wants the council to start using derelict Dublin sites
  • The poverty of two-thirds of the world’s family demands a redistribution of the world’s resources.

My opinion

I like that she seems to have exactly the right kind of experience for this job, she has experience working with the Dublin City Council. She is also left leaning which I also like, but I don’t like the way she doesn’t have a lot of concrete election promises that would really give you an idea about what she is going to do.

Sources for my information

Sonya Stapleton

Background

“Sonya Stapleton is a single parent from the inner city living in the Dublin 2 area. Her son attends a school close to Pearse Street and she has family roots in Ringsend. Sonya has gone back to education in Trinity College last year as a mature student.”  (taken from her election leaflet)

Thing she says that might influence your vote

  • Reduce property taxes
  • Introduce rent controls
  • No increases of council rents
  • Protect post offices from being moved to corporate giants like Tesco
  • There should be at least one more public secondary school and more classes in primary schools to reduce waiting lists
  • Build smaller facilities around Dublin Bay instead of extending Ringsend sewage plant
  • Cut estate management fees: Insurance should be separated from general maintenance fees and owners given more options
  • Stop cuts to community centres
  • Waste collection should be a free public service
  • She is in favour of cutting down the bride street trees
  • The should be more female representatives

My opinion

There is a lot of really popular things she is saying there, but.. how are we going to pay for those things. She doesn’t talk about increasing rates or how rent controls is going to affect a situation where there is a low about of supply for housing.

Sources for my information

Lorraine Clifford

Background

Lorraine Clifford is a solicitor and is new to electoral politics.  Lorraine runs her own solicitors practice, Clifford and Co., based near the Four Courts. She is also a volunteer with the Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) in Ringsend. 

Thing she says that might influence your vote

Couldn’t find any manifesto or solid statements

My opinion

First of all she is a member of Fianna Fail, which means I’m extremely reluctant to vote for her. Then again she hasn’t run before, why on earth would she choose them? Certainly not because they are most successful party out there. Her website is terrible, I mean her blog contains sample posts which is really poor form. She does score some points with me for the today.ie article on carjacking you can see below, it makes me feel like she joined Fianna Fail as she sees them as a viable opposition party to Fine Gael who in her opinion aren’t doing a good job of law and order.

Sources for my information

Gerry Ashe

Background

Gerry Ashe grew up in Dublin first living in Ballyfermot before her parents got a transfer to Donnybrook. She worked in Sweden for several years including in a village specially created for people with disabilities. On returning to Ireland she worked for 18 years with adults with multiple disabilities. She joined the labour party in 1990 and since then has been active at local branch and constituency levels. She is currently entering her fourth term as Chairperson of the Dublin South East Constituency Council of the Labour Party. She also represents Dublin South East on the policy making National Central Council of the Labour Party and from which she serves on the key Policy Committee.

Upon his appointment as Minister for Finance, Ruairi Quinn TD, recognizing her particular abilities at working with people and problem solving invited her to join his staff in his Ministerial Office and Constituency Office. During this time Gerry represented Labour in Ringsend and Aungier Street Advice Clinics and through these and her other work developed an insight to the area second to none. Gerry continued to work with Ruairi Quinn throughout his terms as Minister and Party Leader up to the recently.

Gerry is on the Board of Sandymount and Ringsend Community Services – publishers of News 4 – and of the Citizens Information Service and is a volunteer with Citizens Information Centre also. She has a particular interest in Addiction and Psychiatric Services, Homelessness and Disability. On the City Council she has been appointed to serve on the Finance Committee and as a representative on the Dublin Docklands Development Council. (all copied from the labour.ie website)

She was also co-opted to replace Kevin Humphreys in April 2011 to become a county councillor for Inner City South East.

Thing she says that might influence your vote

Couldn’t find any manifesto or solid statements

My opinion

She doesn’t have her own website, I haven’t heard any of her political views, aside from she is pro cycling and is heavily interested in people with disability but I just don’t have enough information to vote for her.

Sources for my information

Linda O’Shea Farren

Background

She is from Limerick, she studied to become a solicitor and in the 1980s due to the lack of jobs available moved to the USA where she worked at as a lawyer for a New York law firm. She moved back to Ireland in the early 90s as she wanted to raise her child in Ireland. She then got a job working as program manager for the rainbow government. I highly recommend watching the youtube video youtube.com/watch?v=psHGkPEJb9U to get a feel for her and a more detailed background. She was introduced as CEO of the Irish American Peace Foundation, a former New York lawyer, an investment banker and adviser to the former minister Nora Owen. After the banking crisis Linda was elected as an independent non executive director of EBS. She has also run unsuccessfully for a senate seat independently 3 times.

Thing she says that might influence your vote

  • Planning shouldn’t be developer led- in regards to drainage and flood defences

My opinion

She seems like she has a huge amount of extremely relevant experience, where I think she really falls down is the lack of concrete promises. She seems to be running entirely on her experience. That said I’m really inspired by her youtube video, she seems like an amazing person.

Sources for my information

Mannix Flynn

Background

Gerard Mannix Flynn, sometimes written only as Mannix Flynn, is an Irish writer, playwright, actor and politician. He was born in Dublin in May 1957. (Wikipedia)

He was also elected in 2009 to be councillor for Inner City South East

He rapped in his election campaign youtube.com/watch?v=2BlOrIGidWw

The email I received from them contains a lot of really interesting information that might influence your vote, you can view that here: pastebin.com/raw.php?i=EQdWqpRw, I’d like to add that information into the blog itself but it would require me to read through it and find mention of it in his blogs or in a credible source. I probably won’t get time to do that before election day.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • He has been critical of the transparency of city council spending while in office thejournal.ie/grafton-street-refurbishment…
  • He put forward a motion to call on Russia to stop the persecution of LGBT people and cancel a planned Russian cultural event in solidarity with the Gay community
  • He says there should be the same level of due diligence taken with the Little Museum of Ireland as when the council long term leases out old buildings to individuals
  • There should be public lavatories in Dublin, we shouldn’t have to go into private businesses to use their bathroom

My opinion

From what I’ve read from his blog he seems like a competent councillor. I feel like more information could be included in his election literature and his website is somewhat awkward to use but the content is quite good, particularly the youtube videos of him talking in council.

Sources for my information

 

Chris Andrews

Background

Chris Andrews was involved part of Fianna Fail until he switched parties to Sinn Fein for the upcoming election. His first election was in the Pembroke constituency as a councillor in 1999, after he tried to be elected into the Dail and the Seanad in 2002 without success and was voted out from being a councillor in 2004. In 2006 he was co-opted as a councillor for Inner City South East replacing Garry Keegan until he was elected to the Dail in 2007. In 2011 he lost his seat, and then in August 2012 he left Fianna Fail after he was caught posting tweets criticising Fianna Fail leadership under the name @brianformerff and in September 2013 he joined Sinn Fein.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

Couldn’t find any manifesto or solid statements

My opinion

I think his past is mired in drama. I distrust Fianna Fail, and I distrust someone who jumps ship when it’s sinking even more, but what annoys me most is the lack of website and solid statements about what he going to do when elected.

Sources for my information

 

Frank Kennedy

Background

Frank is 29 years old and new to politics. He studied Law at UCD, the University of Toulouse and Oxford University. He worked in Washington, DC as a summer intern for Senator Ted Kennedy and later returned to Washington to work for a year with the US-Ireland Alliance. Frank is a barrister and also teaches in the Law School at Trinity College Dublin. Frank is a Fianna Fáil Local Area Representative in the Pembroke South-Dock ward, which includes Sandymount, Donnybrook, Ballsbridge, Merrion, Milltown, Irishtown, Ringsend, Pearse Street, Temple Bar and Portobello. Frank is from Sandymount, where he continues to live. (taken from the Fianna Fail website)

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • He wants to increase flood protection for the dodder
  • Property Tax should not be increased for home-owners who are struggling to pay
  • He wants to reform the Seanad to be more democratic

My opinion

He is young but he does have some experience working for a politician in the United States as well as being a barrister. What bothers me is that he doesn’t go into enough detail on either his election literature about what he plans to actually do once elected.

Sources for my information

James Humphreys

Background

He started his education in Star of the Sea, Sandymount, before graduating from Marian College and attending Dublin Business School. More recently he has worked in the hospitality sectors and retail, where he continues to work. (taken from labour.ie website)

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • In favour of a directly elected mayor

My opinion

The information available about this candidate is pretty sparse. I don’t have enough to make an informed choice.

Sources for my information

Dermot Lacey

Background

Dermot Lacey has been an incumbent candidate since 1999 having been successfully elected 3 times in a row.

To really get a full background you are better off reading it directly from the labour.ie/dermotlacey website. The TL;DR is that he is a huge amount of experience in local politics and is a social democrat.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • The far and nationalist left say no to property tax but property tax is a positive thing as local government in starved of funding and those who say no aren’t offering an alternative solution
  • MILLIONS of euro of taxpayers’ money is being wasted on signs erected on construction sites throughout Ireland, according to a Dublin city councillor. The official signs, which advertise projects being carried out under the National Development Plan, are costing up to €5,000 each.
  • The decision by An Bord Pleanala to grant permission for the development of an Incinerator at Poolbeg flew in the face of all the evidence given at the Oral Hearing and of all logic. Disgracefully it showed contempt for the interests of the local community and sadly it confirmed once again that we do not have a democratic Local Government system in this country. It also demonstrated that we do not have a coherent and  integrated National Waste Strategy but simply a string of local actions hung together by expediency.
  • It’s worth reading this: dermotlacey.ie/blog/2012/02/one-dublin-many-dubliners/ if you have the time, TL;DR: Dublin needs more than just a directly elected mayor to improve and describes other things that would improve how Dublin City could be more democratically run.
  • THE PRICE paid for land cannot be allowed to become the “yardstick” by which planning decisions are made, Labour city councillor Dermot Lacey has told the Bord Pleanála hearing on developer Seán Dunne’s high-rise plans for Ballsbridge. The decision of Dublin city planners to grant permission for the development of the former Jurys-Berkeley Court land, bought by Mr Dunne for €380 million three years ago, was “a gross act of defiance” against the wishes of the city councillors, Mr Lacey said. “The intensity of the proposed development is apparently necessary because of the huge price paid for the land. If the cost of land becomes the yardstick for planning decisions, we might as well throw out all the planning laws and get rid of the development plan. The 37-storey tower was “completely out of character” with the area and two 15-storey towers had “no artistic merit whatsoever, they are simply blocks of concrete”, Mr Lacey said.

My opinion

This candidate is probably the best I’ve come across, his website is an incredible resource for an understanding of what his political views are and what kind of action you’d expect to see from him. The fact that he has been elected for 3 terms (of 5 years each) makes him incredibly experienced as well as a proving that he can do the job without creating scandal.

Despite all this experience he hasn’t as many have tried, to make the step to running as a Dail candidate, and he has been advocating a directly elected mayor for Dublin probably longer than anyone else.

I think I’ll be giving him my number 1.

Sources for my information

Kieran Binchy

Background

Kieran was co-opted in 2011 when Catherine Noone, the previous councillor was elected to the Seanad. He has a degree in Law and French from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Dublin City University. He’s also trained as a barrister in Kings’ Inns.

As well as being a Councillor, Kieran also currently works as a barrister. Kieran has previously worked as a law lecturer in DIT Aungier Street and as a Parliamentary Assistant to Lucinda Creighton TD in Leinster House. Before working in law and politics, he spent time studying in France and working in tourism in Morocco and in Cuba, where he lived for three years.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • He is for the active use of empty and under-used buildings
  • Dismantling of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority replacing it with an accountable body.
  • Further development of the Dublin Bike Scheme

My opinion

He seems to have a decent amount of experience both on a national and local level, plus he is a barrister which I have to assume is no small benefit when you are constantly working legal issues relating to the running of a city.

His website, his election literature and his youtube video youtube.com/watch?v=5V556OWIVI4 seem to lack any solid promises which is somewhat disappointing.

Sources for my information

Paddy McCartan

Background

Paddy McCartan ran twice unsuccessfully as a councillor for the Pembroke council constituency in 1999 and 2004 before being co-opted to replace Lucinda Creighton in June 2007, he then ran again unsuccessfully in 2009 before being co-opted again to replace Eoghan Murphy in April 2011.

He is an optician who has lived and worked all his life in the Pembroke Electoral area.

Paddy runs two practices – one on Baggot Street and one in Ringsend. He has been an active member of Fine Gael since 1982 and played a vital role in supporting Lucinda Creighton during the General Election campaign.

Thing he says that might influence your vote

  • Wants to complete the dodder flood alleviation works for Ballsbridge and Donnybrook
  • Wants to find a site for the new primary school for Sandymount/Ringsend
  • Impose a levy on vacant sites to release development land
  • Continue the campaign to scrap the Poolbeg project

My opinion

He has some experience in local government but it is surprising that he hasn’t been elected after he was first co-opted.

I wouldn’t vote for him as he is against marriage equality, and as I said about Anne Maree Quinn, I couldn’t vote him any more than I could vote for someone who said that interracial relationships were of less value.

I like that his election literature contains solid promises, I particularly like the levy on vacant sites, although I’m not sure how much vacant land there is. I also like that he has a huge number of blog posts, although I dislike the style of writing, it made for extremely arduous reading. If you are going to write a blog post, don’t quote yourself, just write from the first person. Plus the blog posts I read seemed to be more about his party or events that happened rather than his particular view of and input into his role as a Dublin city councillor.

Sources for my information