Leanna Byrne | Editor
Trinity student Jonathan Graham has been elected in the Clondalkin constituency in the local elections as a Sinn Féin candidate.
Graham is currently studying Business, Economics and Social Science (BESS) and was the youngest candidate running in the local elections in the country at 19 years of age.
He was up against stiff competition as former Irish Olympic boxer, Kenneth (‘Kenny’) Egan was running in the same area on a Fine Gael ticket. However, both Graham and Eoin O’Broin for Sinn Féin took early seats ahead of the two Fine Gael candidates in the eight seat constituency.
The Sinn Féin candidate campaigned on issues such as youth unemployment, forced emigration and the introduction of water charges.
In a speech at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Wexford earlier this year, Graham urged younger voters to get involved in politics as the current coalition government is failing young people, in particular students.
“Despite what a Labour deputy may say, my generation doesn’t sit at home watching flat screen TV’s,” Graham said in a SF statement. “We want to work, but there are no meaningful jobs – but there could be, if this Government had the will to make the youth guarantee work.”
Sinn Féin candidates across the country are continuing to top the polls as Labour and Fine Gael are struggling to keep up with the preference for the Independents and smaller parties.
