About Me…

As a teenager in the 1980s while at school in South Dublin I along with many of my generation became concerned about pollution in the environment. At the time Dublin was coated in smog every winter. The smoky coal ban, the changes to protect the ozone layer and the removal of lead from petrol have us hope, but there were many project at the Young Scientist Exhibition at the RDS every January that concerned social and environmental science.

Politics was in my genes, with my great uncle Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh serving as Uachtarán na hÉireann from 1974 until he was forced to resign as a government minister undermined the office of the president.

I joined the Trinity Greens in 1991 attracted by a radical agenda and completely against the lack of promise and protection of the status quo which defined Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both then and now. I also joined the TCD environmental society and the St. Vincent de Paul along with some other groups best not mentioned here as my politics has since evolved.

I worked in Uganda in East Africa for 2 years at the turn of the century and saw first hand the pressures that country was under in the post-colonial era and the beginning of problems caused for agriculture and food supply by climate change as well as HIV. This experience and seeing the deprivation and disadvantage in some parts of Dublin has led me to the view that inequality in our world needs to be tackled in every way possible.

Through my working life I attempted to live with environmental values, choosing to work and live where I could use public transport and later cycling for my commute. I have been striving to shop with zero waste for almost 2 decades while also supporting small businesses ahead of large multinationals, and ethical food sources where possible. As a family we have looked for alternatives to flying on holidays for years and use the car as little as possible.

I believe we should support local and started a website in 2004 celebrating what is unique and local about Dublin. I have a particular love for Dublin’s industrial heritage and was proud to help the Inchicore Sports and Social club as a committee member and coordinator of the monthly draw for a few years.

I am currently also on the board of a youth project. I have been involved in a number of community clean up groups.

I was the Green Party candidate for Dublin South Central in the 2011 and 2016 General elections and the local election candidate in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh city council area in 2014. I was health spokesperson for the party from 2011-2016 and helped produce the current and previous party health policies which I am very proud of. I also proposed the motion at the party annual convention in 2013 that led to the current policy on decriminalisation of cannabis.

I would normally align myself within the Green Party with those who consider themselves the Just Transition Greens. As a hospital pharmacist, as well as through some of my other volunteer work I have see the struggles marginalised people have both here in Ireland and around the world. I empathise with these problems, and while there are no jobs on a dead planet we are not trying to save a planet just for a few rich people to enjoy.

In politics the highlight of my career so far has been helping to repeal the 8th amendment in 2018 – I was a local convenor as part of the Dublin South Central together for yes.

I drive, walk and cycle around Dublin and occasionally post videos on Twitter/X portraying some of the dangers posed by a small minority of motorists in our city, some of the poor infrastructure that puts vulnerable Road users at risk and the absence of effective road traffic law enforcement.

I currently work as a hospital pharmacist in a palliative care setting in north Dublin. In my work have been involved in medication safety for 2 decades and I also have a Masters in Healthcare Management from the Institute of Public Administration, which includes a diploma in Public Service Management.

I am married with 3 children and have siblings in Spain and Australia.