Public affairs

A ‘Geopolitical’ Commission

The European Commission’s class of 2019–2024 began work in early December, a month later than expected, under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen’s 27-strong team, which she named the “geopolitical commission” was supported by 461 MEPs against 157 who opposed and 89 who abstained.

Von der Leyen is the Commission’s first female President and she has included 12 women in the new Commission, three more than the first team brought forward by Jean-Claude Juncker. Her genderbalanced team is dominated by Brussels experience and ranges in age from the youngest new commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius of Lithuania (29) to Spain’s Josep Borrell (72), a former European Parliament President.

The appointment of the former German defence minister’s Commission was not all plain sailing, of the first 26 proposed commissioners (excludes Britain), three were rejected.

Supporting von der Leyen, she has appointed three senior Executive VicePresidents to take the lead on three core areas of ‘an economy that works for people’, a ‘European green deal’ and a ‘Europe fit for the digital age’.

Climate, digital and industrial policy will be key areas of focus for the new commission in the five years ahead and are prominent within the six priorities outlined by von der Leyen:

• a European Green Deal;

• an economy that works for people;

• a Europe fit for the digital age;

• promoting our European way of life;

• a stronger Europe in the world; and

• a new push for European democracy.

Within these priorities, two of the largest and most contentious projects will be ambitions to get all member states to go carbon neutral by 2050, a much more costly affair for those member states who still rely heavily on fossil fuels, on pay and on the “human and ethical implications” of artificial intelligence.

However, such lofty ambitions face curtailment in the face of disagreement between member states around the costs of implementing priorities. Any hopes that the EU’s budget out to 2024 could be agreed in 2019 are gone and could be pushed out to as late as the second half of 2020.

Brexit is the main cause of member states such as Germany arguing for the budget to be held at a lower percentage of the EU’s gross national income than proposals by the Commission and the Parliament. The FT calculates that Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Austria finance about half of net payments to the EU budget in 2020. The prospect of this rising to three-quarters by the end of 2027 is seen as disproportionate and member states recognise difficulties in their citizens accepting such figures.

However, the Commission views a focus on net contributions to the budget as “seriously flawed”, believing such a view fails to measure the single market benefits and collective action.

Overall first preference vote share across all four constituencies

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

The Green Party Labour Sinn Féin Fianna Fáil Fine Gael

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

November 2019 byelection turnout

Cork North-Central Dublin Fingal Dublin Mid-West Wexford Overall

least one, and sometimes two, seats since the creation of the constituency in 1981.

The Fine Gael Government’s position was further weakened by events in Cork North-Central a week after the byelections when sitting TD Dara Murphy resigned his seat after it was uncovered that, despite working full time in Brussels in the administration of the European People’s Party since 2017, the TD had been drawing his full Dáil salary and allowances. It is said that Fine Gael were unhappy with Murphy’s decision not to resign before the byelection as the belief in party headquarters is that the party would have had a better chance of winning a seat on transfers in a two-seater byelection rather than what amounted to a straight race on 29 November. The constituency now consists of one Fianna Fáil TD, one Sinn Féin TD, one Solidarity-People Before Profit TD and the seat vacated by Murphy.

Dublin Fingal

Dublin Fingal, vacated by the former Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly, delivered what could be described as the most shocking result of the day. The Green Party’s Joe O’Brien, who polled at 4.61 per cent of first preference votes in the 2016 general election, topped the poll with 22.9 per cent to continue the party’s return to national prominence. O’Brien was elected on the eighth count after transfers from Labour’s Duncan Smith eliminated Fianna Fáil Lorraine Clifford-Lee, sealing a first ever byelection victory for the Green Party. Dublin Fingal now consists of a TD each from Sinn Féin, the Green Party, Labour and Fine Gael.

Dublin Mid-West

Rivalling O’Brien’s victory in Fingal for shock factor was the victory of South Dublin City Councillor Mark Ward for Sinn Féin in Dublin Mid-West. Ward’s victory will come as a blow to the Government as the seat he filled had been vacated by Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald. The victory gives Sinn Féin a second seat in Dublin Mid-West, with Ward joining party spokesperson for housing Eoin Ó Broin TD. The other two seats in the constituency are occupied by Solidarity-People Before Profit and Fianna Fáil.

Ward topped the poll with 24 per cent of first preference votes, slightly higher than the 22.69 per cent Ó Broin secured when he topped local polling in 2016. Despite being expected to lose out on transfers once the initial surprise of his top billing had worn off, Ward hung on to win on the ninth count after transfers from the independent Paul Gogarty pushed him over the line ahead of Fine Gael’s Emer Higgins.

Wexford

Fianna Fáil gained a seat in Wexford with Wexford County Councillor Malcolm Byrne claiming the seat vacated by former Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace. Byrne’s total first preference share of 31.2 per cent increased the party’s overall in Wexford in 2016, where they peculiarly ran three candidates, who split 26.66 per cent of the first preference votes, ending with only one, James Browne, getting elected.

The constituency now consists of two TDs each from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and the Labour leader, Brendan Howlin TD. The Labour candidate George Lawlor had polled at 20 per cent of first preference votes, higher than the 14.76 per cent that saw Howlin top the poll in 2016. While he was the last to be eliminated, his vote share will be wellreceived in Labour headquarters as a sign of recovery in what has traditionally been a strong Labour constituency.

Coalition and unity

A reunification referendum in five years, openness to coalition government and a subdued Vice President contest were the main talking points at this year’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis held in Derry. David Whelan attended.

That Sinn Féin was on election footing was never so obvious than its choice of venue for this year’s two-day Ard Fheis. Sitting MP Elisha McCallion was a prominent figure during the event, both on stage and on numerous walls and lampposts around the city as the party sought to build on the momentum that saw McCallion become the party’s first MP for the city and fend off the challenge posed by the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood.

However, while Westminster may have been at the forefront of minds, it was far from the sole focus. Party members were well aware that a general election in the South is likely before they meet again and positioning the party for a role in a new government was discussed heavily both within and outside of the main hall.

That main hall appeared smaller than previous venues in Belfast and Dublin, however, such was the activity outside of the main room, it was difficult to gauge whether attendance was up or down. Unsurprisingly, the room was packed for the keynote speech by President Mary Lou McDonald but other topics, tackling climate breakdown for example, had far fewer attendees than may have been expected.

MLA John O’Dowd’s contest for Michelle O’Neil’s position as Vice President, an unprecedented challenge to the sitting leadership of Sinn Féin, had been highly anticipated when first announced. However, much like the run up to the contest itself, the announcement of the final result was subdued. O’Dowd had his airtime as a spokesperson for the party noticeably reduced and the party opted against any hustings for each candidate to offer their case.

In an address to the Ard Fheis, O’Dowd said: “media reports of my demise have been much exaggerated”. Indeed, it appeared they had been. While many suggested O’Dowd’s contest would see him ostracised by the party, that was far from evident as he moved through the conference venue shaking hands and chatting freely.

With no hype or build up, the outcome was announced to delegates in a benign fashion and well before the room started to fill up for the final sessions. No vote numbers were given. No victory speech. Nothing to see here, or so we’re led to believe. An early motion at the conference calling on the ard chomhairle to review how the leadership team is elected may be a sign that the party’s grassroots require change. Pressure to change, or pressure from the media, eventually led the party to u-turn on the decision not to publish the final result, albeit almost a full week after the event. Michelle O’Neill: 493, John O’Dowd: 241.

In two-days of motions ranging from topics on unity to health, housing, social justice and climate change, the drama was in the detail. Sinn Féin’s place in the future government of Ireland was a particularly contentious issue and a motion calling for the party to only go into government coalition “as the largest party” brought a number of senior figures to the stage to voice their opposition.

MEP Matt Carthy offered a passionate rebuke, stating: “We will decide when to go into government based on our ability to have the power to deliver on Irish unity, on health, and to deliver a better deal for ordinary people. We will only contemplate government on those terms.”

The motion fell, however, a proceeding motion ensuring that any decision relating to entering government will only be made by a special Ard Fheis, did pass.

“I stand ready to form a credible executive,” said Vice President Michelle O’Neill in an address on day one of the conference. Describing the “current political impasse” as “unsustainable and unacceptable”, O’Neill added: “Sinn Féin remains fully invested in and committed to the Good Friday Agreement. The commitment to a referendum on a united Ireland is within this Agreement. It cannot be cherry-picked.

“The Agreement also requires an Assembly that works for everyone.”

Much like other Sinn Fein figures who peppered reference to Stormont within their addresses, O’Neill offered little in way of a solution to getting Stormont back up and running. The party would deny it but an Executive in Northern Ireland is on the long finger while Sinn Féin jockeys for position in the South and seeks to progress its unity ambitions in the face of Brexit.

Unity

President Mary Lou McDonald set out her case for a redefined Ireland by declaring “the old ways have not worked”. Boldly, she said: “This new decade is the one in which we will finally end partition to achieve a new, united Ireland.”

Sinn Féin Vice Presidential challenger John O’Dowd MLA.

The Dublin TD set out an envisaged ‘new deal’ from Sinn Féin, spanning workers’ rights, housing healthcare, education and childcare and the environment. Among the headline pledges were pledges to introduce a legal standing for the living wage and to deliver the largest public house building programme “that Ireland has ever seen”, while increasing the supply of affordable homes and reducing rents.

On healthcare, McDonald called for an Irish National Health Service and in education she foresees making childcare a public service, while also pledging to scrap third level fees.

On the environment, McDonald’s detail was scarce but instead talked up proposals for a ‘green new deal’ to be published by the party. “A Green New Deal for Ireland means zero emissions targets; a just transition, sustainable jobs; state investment in infrastructure and skills,” was as much as the TD would say on the ambitions of the party’s new policy.

McDonald quickly returned to unity and unmistakably singled out Brexit as a catalyst in heightened ambition.

“Brexit has changed everything. Many people, for the first time, are now considering their future in a United Ireland. The Irish government and all who say that now is not the time to speak of unity are wrong. A referendum on unity will happen, as set-out in the Good Friday Agreement. It is not a question of if, but a question of when,” she said.

The President went on to call for the convening of an all-island forum to map out the “transition to a united Ireland”, declaring “the referendum must happen in the next five years”.

Much like O’Neill the previous night, McDonald said of Stormont that Sinn Féin negotiators “stand ready”, however, she offered little in way of a solution. “There is no contradiction between working for Irish Unity and seeking the restoration of the northern institutions,” she stated. “There is an immediate challenge to restore government in the North… Sinn Féin has never been the obstacle to power-sharing or good government or doing a deal. I challenge the DUP and both governments to step forward. To resolve the issues and get government back in action.”

McDonald blended North and South policy well and comfortably switched between the two. She addressed the coalition question head on by stating: “There are some who believe we should never talk to other parties about government. Those fears are understandable but I believe the housing crisis will only be solved with Sinn Fein in government… Following the general election, we have a choice to make… After the election, we will talk and we will listen. Our preference is for a left-led government.”

Concluding McDonald said: “The past was for those who seek to divide. The future is for those of us who seek to unite. The old guard can have yesterday. Tomorrow is ours.”

“This is the decade in which we will deliver this new Ireland. In which we will unite our country. This is the decade in which we will win the republic,” she added.

delegations from other EU member states and accompanying them to border areas in order to show them “the reality of the interdependence of our economies”. He also recalled the days before the Good Friday Agreement, long before these students’ births, and having to navigate security and customs checkpoints while campaigning due to the roads of Cavan and Monaghan intersecting with Fermanagh so frequently.

Before moving on to the questions and answers section, Smith lamented the fact that the North South Ministerial Council, which he has participated in, can no longer meet, calling its absence a “huge deficiency in what was happening in terms of north/south co-operation”.

When asked in the Q&A if he feared for the future of north/south relations, Smith said: “I don’t fear for the future, but we could be strengthening them. We’re too small a country not to be collaborating.”

When asked forthrightly if he desired a united Ireland, Smith answered: “I’m a person that wants to see a united Ireland but through the mechanism of the Good Friday Agreement. All-Ireland bodies are working well. We should work the institutions.”

Following Smith was the Labour Senator Aodhán Ó Riordáin. Ó Riordáin began proceedings by regaling the students with his political history, beginning with his awakening as primary school teacher in Sheriff Street in Dublin’s inner city, where he was the first male teacher in 150 years.

Exposed to the poverty of Dublin’s north inner city for the first time, Ó Riordáin went on to become a Labour Party Dublin City Councillor in 2004, a TD in 2011 and after losing his seat in 2016, a member of Seanad Éireann. Ó Riordáin, of course, discussed Brexit with the students, saying that victory for the leave side of the vote had been the “classic example of what happens when you’re not watching”.

“Brexit was the result of a 30-year propaganda war by sections of the Conservative Party against the European Union,” he told the students. “The Good Friday Agreement has been ripped up and thrown in the bin by the Brexit process.” Ó Riordáin also spoke of his work in the areas of drug law reform and the protection of employment rights, two areas particularly relevant for the Derry City and Strabane constituency, which has Northern Ireland’s lowest employment rate, 61.6 per cent and highest economic inactivity rate, 34.1 per cent. After referencing recent heroinrelated deaths in Belfast, he called the UK’s drug policy “really regressive” and note that Ireland has the third highest overdoes rate in Europe. He detailed the struggles to secure planning permission for a safe injection centre in Dublin and said that that there was “massive inequality” placed on the value of certain lives in both Ireland and the UK.

Speaking to a Catholic boys grammar and non-denominational co-educational selective grammar, Ó Riordáin stressed the importance of shared education and placed the blame for the lack of shared education in the Republic of Ireland, where one third of secondary schools are separated based on gender, at the door of the Catholic Church. During the Q&A section that followed his talk, he claimed that the “Catholic Church has had far too much influence in Ireland” and decried the fact that the Department of Education “doesn’t have a hands-on role in education”. “I would like to have a change in the Irish Constitution to get religion out of schools,” he told the students, saying that a referendum was necessary as the Church would never willingly give up their “vice grip on the education system”.

In another robust and forthright Q&A session from the assured and engaged students, Ó Riordáin was asked who he blamed more for Labour’s downturn in electoral fortunes, former leader Eamon Gilmore or his now-deposed successor Joan Burton. Neither, he answered: “The easiest thing in the world to do is to not go into government.”

When asked about the impending climate crisis that will ignore any borders, Ó Riordáin, a former Labour spokesperson for the environment, said that “hard questions need to be asked of people”. “People have to be discommoded,” he told the students. “The farming community needs to be brought on board. They’re quite a powerful lobby group who can make or break a politician’s career. Nothing can ever be the same again and we can’t pretend that things can be the same because the stakes are far too high.” Following the meeting with Ó Riordáin, the students were treated to lunch in the Leinster House canteen before watching Leader’s Questions and then going on a tour of the Houses of the Oireachtas. 4

Cavan-Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith fields questions from the students.

Labour at the crossroads

Ireland is at a crossroads, Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin TD told the party’s annual conference in November. The same could be said of his own party, who face into 2020 with the goal of recovering their pre-2016 position firmly in their sights.

“Our country is at a crossroads,” Howlin told the conference to open his leader’s speech. “Labour wants everyone to share our country’s wealth.”

The Labour Party is itself at a crossroads, still looking to recover from the decimation of its voting base that started in the 2014 local government elections and carried on into the 2016 general election. After losing 81 council seats around Ireland and falling 7.5 per cent in vote share in 2014, Labour replaced Eamon Gilmore as leader with Joan Burton, who oversaw the loss of 30 Dáil seats and a drop in vote share from 19.5 per cent to 6.6 per cent. Howlin, Burton’s successor, was then made leader to halt the party’s slide, which he has to some extent. In 2019’s local government elections, the party gained six seats nationwide, but suffered a further drop of 1.4 per cent in vote share.

Since May 2019’s local and European elections, Labour have found themselves fifth in every major opinion poll, sixth when others/independents are incorporated, behind Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and the Green Party and oscillating between 3 and 6 per cent of the projected vote. Yet, with the polls so finely poised at the top end, it is possible that they could still play the role of kingmakers. Howlin was definitive in his position on the possibility of Labour joining the next government: “Labour will not support any party to form a government, including from opposition, unless they agree to implement our core policies.” Howlin outlined Labour’s five core policies that cover the areas of work, housing, healthcare, children and climate:

• a living wage for all workers; • a cap on rents and rent freeze until more homes are built; • the redirection of health funding into local communities; • the creation of a Childcare for

Working Parents Scheme; and • a €2 billion climate fund to “drive the necessary economic change using the power of our state enterprises”. On prospective partners in government, Howlin was equally scathing with regard to both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, saying neither could be trusted on housing or wages. After saying that neither were “progressive parties”, he accused Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of “either incredible ignorance or else serious contempt for science” following the Taoiseach’s comments about the potential benefits of global warming.

Howlin also said that there was a need to “revisit some of the decisions forced on Ireland during the economic collapse” and pledged to stop the rise of the pension age to 67 for the lifetime of the next government, saying that there is “no need for Ireland to have a higher pension age than other European countries”.

After pledging a total ban on political advertising on social media during elections, the removal of carbon from Ireland’s economy and to “properly fund public service broadcasting”, Howlin finished on an outward and upward looking note: “Let’s create an economy that delivers for everyone. Labour is committed to an economic model that creates enough wealth to be shared by all. European social democracy offers a real alternative. It works best in the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden. Let’s add Ireland to that list.”

participating in broader movements and trying to build a broader left party.

“RISE are revolutionary socialists and we don’t hide from that, but we are interested in working with those who don’t consider themselves revolutionary socialists but agree with us now about the environment, public transport, wages, whatever. We are trying to mobilise people into struggle and trying to turn that into a broader left. It hasn’t been a good couple of decades for the left but there are openings developing.”

Yet, in Ireland’s nearest neighbour in Britain, there has been the example of the Labour Party, where a leadership and membership trying to foster a broad left movement have found themselves at odds with the majority of their parliamentary party. “There’s no question now that the active membership of the Labour Party is to the left of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP),” Murphy says. “As a democratic party, their PLP should reflect that. I think if RISE was transposed to Britain, we would do what we could to be in the Labour Party to argue the consistently left line and push Corbyn further. That’s where the struggle is taking place in the left and you have to be connected to that.”

The question remains that if a party such as Labour cannot command a fully coherent broad left movement, how could RISE do so in Ireland, where the more diverse party system means that those who are sympathetic to the idea of a broad left coalition are even more fractured across parties such as Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats and the Green Party, where individual feelings amongst members or candidates might not be mirrored by the leadership or the plurality of members?

“Sinn Féin are clearly angling to get into government in the south, whether the traditional establishment parties will let them in is another question. Basically, they’re going down the similar road of betrayal that the Labour Party have gone down before,” Murphy says when the question is put to him. “The Green Party is very determined to repeat past experience despite the very obvious negative consequences. Their commitment to managing capitalism doesn’t stack up with the urgency of climate catastrophe.

“We accept that there are good people who turn to Sinn Féin and the Greens who do so for good reasons. I think it’s definitely the case that the majority of Sinn Féin’s urban voting base would be similar to that of Die Linke in Germany or Podemos in Spain. It’s a leftward looking anti-austerity vote, for which Sinn Féin seems the biggest and most credible vehicle. We think we need to intercept those people. If your dialogue is simply telling the truth about what those parties are, it’s not a very effective way of speaking to these people.”

If these voters are there to be intercepted and Murphy doesn’t simply want to snipe from the sidelines, how then does he propose that RISE begin to peel them away and win them over to their side? “I think the approach of placing demands on these parties is more effective than just denouncing them en masse. Saying to Sinn Féin that if they’re serious about fighting water charges, then they should call for no payment, for example,” he says.

“The argument from the Socialist Party would be that by doing that, you’re in danger of sewing illusion with regard to these parties, but when you place demands on forces that have a base in the working class, it’s a win-win. Either they don’t agree to mobilise, which exposes them to their base, or they do, which is great. There is a contradiction between [Green Party Dáil candidate] Saoirse McHugh and [Green Party leader] Éamon Ryan and if you dismiss that contradiction, I think you’re missing an opportunity.”

Parliamentary procedure has been at the centre of Murphy’s second half to the year, with his change in party status leading to questions about his status as a Solidarity-People Before Profit TD. Would Murphy stay with the six-strong cohort of himself, Mick Barry, Bríd Smith, Gino Kenny, Ruth Coppinger and Richard Boyd Barrett, a relatively strong Dáil showing for the left, or would he become the Dáil’s lone RISE TD?

He is still a member of the two-party electoral alliance, he explains, except it is now a three-party electoral alliance. “From the point of view of parliamentary procedure, there is no change of status. Solidarity-PBP is a registered political party with two components, Solidarity and People Before Profit. We get a certain amount of time, leaders’ questions, etc. That’s still the case, I’m still a member of Solidarity-PBP,” he says.

“In a formal sense, Solidarity-PBP has now gone from something that had two 4

“The opposition is very hamstrung in this Dáil. You can put forward a motion, which can be ignored, or you can put forward a Private Members’ Bill, but over 50 of those bills are now being blocked by the money message. The way to reform it is to amend standing orders, which at the moment are more restrictive than the Constitution, to bring them out to the limits of the Constitution.”

Murphy and Solidarity members during the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

components to something that has three components, Solidarity, People Before Profit and RISE. What we were trying to do was minimise the sense of the Socialist Party breaking apart. We left the Socialist Party, but we’re all still in the same parliamentary party and will cooperate in the Dáil to minimise that sense of disruption. We’re all about building a mass left movement and the closest thing to that today is SolidarityPBP, it’s very far from it, but at least it has the cooperation of two of the main parts of the radical left.”

It was a more high-profile aspect of parliamentary procedure that saw Murphy and his colleague Smith hit the headlines in November. Frustrated by the Government’s use of the money message, the controversial measure by which they can halt the progress of a Private Members’ Bill by claiming that it would require the appropriation of public funds, over which Government retains ultimate control, Murphy and Smith tabled an amendment to amend Dáil standing orders.

“The opposition is very hamstrung in this Dáil. You can put forward a motion, which can be ignored, or you can put forward a Private Members’ Bill, but over 50 of those bills are now being blocked by the money message,” Murphy says. “Our interpretation is that this blocking is based on a wrong reading of Article 17.2 of the Constitution, to basically give the Government a veto. The way to reform it is to amend standing orders, which at the moment are more restrictive than the Constitution, to bring them out to the limits of the Constitution.”

The amendment was deemed unconstitutional by the Ceann Comhairle, and Murphy and Smith challenged that ruling in the High Court. “We didn’t get an injunction to force him to not block our amendment, which didn’t surprise us because courts are hesitant about stepping into the realm of the Dáil like that,” Murphy explains. “What we did get was acceptance that there’s an arguable case that the Government has an overly expansive interpretation of Article 17.2 and that it’s using it in a way to block legislation that it doesn’t agree with and that there’s an arguable case that the Ceann Comhairle shouldn’t have blocked our amendment like that.”

With a judicial review of the matter due to take place in January and over 50 Private Members’ Bill that have passed the floor of the Dáil but fallen victim to the mechanism, this is certainly not the last we have heard of the money message.

Considering the mechanism’s effect, Murphy concludes: “It suits the Government to portray this as a very technical, legalistic argument, but there are Bills that have passed law at the second stage and have majority support, that would make a big difference to people’s lives. A few good examples are the Anti-Evictions Bill, which would strengthen the rights of tenants and stop landlords using the fact that they’re selling as a reason to evict; the Climate Emergency Bill, which would stop the extraction of further fossil fuels; the Objective Sex Education Bill, which would say that every student has the right to objective sex education regardless of the ethos of the school that they are in; the Occupied Territories Bill, which is saying that we should have an effective ban on imports of goods from the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These Bills have majority support in the Dáil and the Government is able to block them no matter how many votes they lose. If we were to win it would free up these bills to proceed and that would be very important.”

stacked against him. Sometimes, when you upset the apple cart, there can be a lot of push back but to have the perseverance to fight on, knowing that, ultimately, it’s for the betterment of society, is an admirable trait.

On an international level, JFK, to mention him again, is someone I admire for the sheer determination and vision he brought to his political life, which is something I also admired about Obama’s presidency. They both were fighting for the underdog, offering people hope and the belief that things can change and be better.

I’m often asked about women running for office too and it’s great to see an increasing number of women putting themselves forward for election. By simply putting yourself forward, you’re empowering other women and inspiring them to consider a role in politics too. It’s so important that we support and help each other. But we must also remember that while we are a voice for women, we’re a voice for men too, and we need to ensure that we reflect all of our constituents.

How best can Ireland meet its citizens’ childcare needs amidst TUSLA’s deregistration of 27 crèches?

Unfortunately for parents, childcare costs are crippling family finances from month to month. The core of the problem, to put it simply, is that parents lack childcare options because demand is outstripping supply. There is undoubtedly a capacity issue and what’s needed is increased capital investment in the sector.

We’ve seen in recent weeks that several crèches have closed around the country, and parents are left in limbo, seeking alternative options and they’re just not there. This could become a major issue in the next 12 months if not addressed in a serious way. This is also in the context of parents being left in the dark as to the registration process that crèches go through, often finding out very late that their crèche isn’t up to scratch. It just adds to the stress parents already endure when it comes to securing childcare for their loved ones.

This, of course, needs to be balanced with the fact that crèches are adhering to important health, safety and welfare regulations that are in place to ensure children are safe and are being cared for in an appropriate manner.

Anne Rabbitte (right) with Maria Hickey.

What are your key priorities for your constituency and the key issues facing your constituency?

Being a rural constituency, farming is a vital part of the lives of many families in Galway East. Many farmers are caught up in the ongoing beef crisis that sees farmers underpaid for their produce and that’s simply unfair. It’s brought many families to the edge when it comes to their finances, with livelihoods on the line. It’s crucial that the Department of Agriculture, through the Beef Task Force, can find a sustainable model that fairly rewards the work and effort farmers put into producing beef to such a high standard.

Families across Galway, and indeed nationwide, are under severe pressure when it comes to childcare. There is a suite of wrap around services that need to be developed and invested in, such as Family Resource Centres, which would go some way in addressing the shortfalls in services offered at present.

I’m a huge advocate for women in sport and firmly believe more could be done to encourage women to participate at all age levels. The amount of money invested in men’s sport outweighs women’s and if we want to see a continued increase in young women getting involved, the issue of under investment needs to be addressed. When girls see people like Katie Taylor, hockey captain Katie Mullan, or Galway camogie captain, Sarah Dervan, it encourages them to get involved and we need to make sure there’s more coverage of such role models.

What are your interests outside of work?

My children occupy most of my time outside of work. From camogie matches, to rugby matches and music lessons, like any parent, I’m frequently out and about dropping them to the next event.

I’m chairperson of Portumna Camogie Club and I love being on the side-line and watching the girls improve from game to game and seeing their love of the sport increase too. Unsurprisingly, I’m a big fan of the Galway hurlers and footballers. It’s always a treat to see the skills on show from people like Joe Canning.

I’m also a big fan of amateur drama, and I try my best to get to as many shows as I can in the locality. Sadly, I don’t have the time to take part in any plays myself at the moment, although there’s always plenty of drama to watch unfold in Leinster House.

Northern citizens look to Dublin for protection

The North now looks to Dublin to safeguard citizens’ rights and the Good Friday Agreement, writes Emma DeSouza.

“The people of Northern Ireland remain British citizens even if they identify as Irish.” This was the ruling of the Upper Tribunal in Belfast on 14 October 2019, the culmination of years of appeals, adjournments, and failed attempts from the British Home Office to overturn a previous decision which ruled that I am an Irish national only.

The government department invested untold time and resources into pursuing a case that negatively impacts the peace process, and at long last was granted the ruling it was hoping for. As the impact of the court’s decision reverberated across Northern Ireland, the Home Office released a statement expressing that they “...are pleased that the upper tribunal agrees that UK nationality law is consistent with the Belfast agreement”. The nationality law to which they refer is the 1981 British Nationality Act which predates the Good Friday Agreement by almost two decades.

I am an Irish citizen; it’s not a choice, it’s not a decision – it is simply who I am. I haven’t held a British passport or claimed British citizenship and yet I’ve found myself in an unprecedented situation. In 2015 when I married my American husband Jake, I discovered that through the UK Government’s failure to give domestic legal effect to the birthright provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, my lifelong Irish identity was evidently considered secondary to an unclaimed British identity. This additional and entirely imposed citizenship deprives me of my rights as an Irish citizen and an EU citizen.

This legal challenge has consumed the first five years of our marriage. For the first two years, we lost our Freedom of Movement. The British Home Office retained Jake’s passport with no legislative authority or policy to do-so.

Through this process I’ve had to outline every moment in my life that my Irish identity has been evident, in order to prove that I am Irish. I’ve had to face the repeated exertions from the Home Office that I am in fact British and that until such times as I accept that I am British, declare myself as British and renounce being British I cannot be accepted as exclusively Irish. This is not my understanding of the Good Friday Agreement.

A key objective of the peace talks was to establish equality between the two main communities and to establish a shared society based on the principles of parity of esteem and mutual respect. Yet I’ve witnessed first-hand the negative impact and emotional trauma caused by expecting Irish citizens to declare themselves as British in order to access their rights.

We’ve met families that have lost years in court fighting against this conferral, families that cried whilst renouncing British citizenship, and families that simply moved away from their homes, families and livelihoods. No one should be forced to adopt or renounce a citizenship they’ve never held in order to access rights which were meant to be granted at birth but that is what’s happening. From my experience and correspondence with British officials I can confidently say there is no intention within the British Government to find a solution that is consistent with the Good Friday Agreement.

Identity in Northern Ireland is delicate; it was at the centre of decades of violence and conflict. The Good Friday Agreement sought to respect an identity balance between two opposing communities and by doing so, remove identity as a source of antipathy. Reducing an integral right to choose one’s own national identity – in this case, to identify as and be accepted as Irish – into a right to merely “feel” Irish sets a dangerous precedent.

If the British Government can arbitrarily disregard rights guaranteed to the people of Northern Ireland under an internationally binding peace treaty, what safeguards are in place to prevent further diminution of rights? The uncertainty and lack of legal protections seems certain to get worse with the onset of Brexit. Which raises the question of what can the Irish Government do? With the British Government abdicating its responsibilities to the people of Northern Ireland responsibility now falls on Dublin to safeguard citizens’ rights and to uphold the Good Friday Agreement. An unenviable task.