Leanna Byrne | Editor
A Senior Sophister student and two Senior Freshman students will be standing in the local elections in the Pembroke-South Dock, Dún Laoghaire and Clondalkin areas.
Candidates Galen Mac Caba, Ellen O’Connor and Jonathan Graham will be running Independent, or for Fine Gael and Sinn Féin respectively.
SS Single Honours Music student, Galen Mac Caba, is currently off-books this year and hopes to “bridge the gap between residents and the Council”. He has promised to “fix any problem in Pembroke-South Dock within 72 hours, or give a full explanation why I can’t”.
In addition, if elected he would seek to overhaul the DCC website and work on indigenous enterprise, micro-enterprise, and community development.
Despite having been a member of Young Fine Gael, Mac Caba is running as an Independent because he feels that there is a “failure of vision in big parties in tackling our national crisis”.
“I don’t think they look very far beyond the next general election,” said Mac Caba. “Smaller parties like the Greens often think in a more-long term way, but most of these parties suggest solutions that are unworkable.”
However, Mac Caba disagrees that there is a stigma surrounding party politics but believes that there is “no benefit to the electorate that I can see in choosing party candidates over independents at local level” as Independent candidates are “more reliant on their own personal record when seeking election”.
Ellen O’Connor is a SF Single Honours History student running as a candidate for Fine Gael having been a member of Young Fine Gael since her first year in Trinity. According to O’Connor the party are very engaged with youth issues, but she also acknowledges that more needs to be done to tackle the issue of youth unemployment.
“Youth unemployment has already fallen from 33% to 25% under this government,” O’Connor commented. “This figure is still too high. I think it is particularly important that the Government support young entrepreneurs, who are central to Ireland’s continued economic recovery.”
If elected, O’Connor would focus on promoting local businesses in the area by reducing commercial rates and introducing a “Living Over The Shop Scheme”, whereby landlords would be given tax incentives to rent out the vacant upper story space above shops on the High Street. She would also hope to assist young entrepreneurs with the new Local Enterprise Office.
When asked about her stance on funding third level education, O’Connor towed the party line saying that she would be in favour of “a phasing out the current system of student registration fees and replacing it with graduate contribution, whereby a student would only have to contribute towards their Third-Level education once they have graduated and secured employment”.
“I believe that this would be a fairer and more sustainable model for funding our publicly funded Third-Level institutions, as it would remove the barrier to entry into college.”
Jonathan Graham, Senior Freshman BESS student, will be running in Clondalkin for Sinn Féin. Unfortunately attempts to contact Graham for the publication of this article have not been successful, but a previous article was published on the candidate earlier this year. It is reported that he is taking a strong stance against the introduction of Irish Water installing meters by presenting to residents on how to prevent their installation.
Graham will be contesting the seat against former Irish Olympic boxer, Kenneth (‘Kenny’) Egan who is running on a Fine Gael ticket.
