I’m delighted to announce that the Green Party have selected me to be the candidate for Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart in the local elections!

I’ve been working in Blanchardstown for 6 years and looking forward to working with Roderic O’Gorman who is in my opinion the hardest working minister in the toughest portfolio. My cousin’s son, Daniel Whooley, was councillor across the road in Ongar for 4 years so hoping we can get a Green on the Ground in this part of Blanchardstown so that we can bring the benefits of being part of the Green Wave to the people.

If you know anyone in Hollystown, Tyrelstown, Corduff, Mulhuddart , the Ward or the parts of Finglas and Blanchardstown that are in that area, please mention my name to them and ask them for their #1 on June 7th!

The Green Party has played a key role in ensuring every council has a strong and legally binding Climate Action Plan. I will now help make sure these plans are implemented.  The party wants all local authorities to publish annual audits of their carbon footprint and report on progress towards shrinking it.

I am running in this election for clean water, nature protection and revitalising our towns. We have a plan to fix the problem of vacant derelict sites that have blighted many towns and instead provide affordable housing. The Dáil may decide our laws and budgets but it is local councils that put many of them into effect. The stakes have never been higher. We know this is our last chance to tackle the climate emergency.

Our pledges as a party include:

• Fewer  vacant and derelict properties by deploying more compulsory purchase orders
• More water inspectors with at least one per local authority
• Ending raw sewage discharges in coastal areas
• Planting of 1 million trees over the next five years and more pocket parks
• Reducing speed limits to 30km/h zones in towns
• Annual car-free days in some towns and villages to reclaim streets for local festivals
• More greenways, cycling network and walking trails
• Greater diversity and gender balance in local government 
• Ensuring all local authority meetings are livestreamed and votes are recorded and easily available
• New local assemblies where people can suggest policy ideas for local problems for their council to trial and make permanent if successful
• Lowering the voting age to 16
• Giving all towns and cities above 30,000 people the option of a directly elected mayor

Minister Roderic O’Gorman, TD for Dublin West and Director of the Local Elections for the Green Party, said:
“We have a dedicated plan to bring our streets and town centres to life. We will fight the vacancy and dereliction that blights so many towns. Safe, clean villages will thrive and be the places where people want to live. We support giving more power to local communities, so people have control over their own lives through local citizen assemblies, markets and community policing.”

The entire Green Party Local Election Manifesto can be read at this link: https://www.greenparty.ie/sites/default/files/2024-05/Manifesto%20v7%20%282%29.pdf

Hope you can vote for me, and if there is anything to discuss over the next month, please contact me through the comments page.