Back in October (with regular updates) Adrian Kavanagh put together a blog post listing the candidates who are contesting the local elections aged under 35:
The Younger Ones: Local Elections 2014 candidates aged between 18 and 35
It's quite interesting to see who this "next generation" of politicians are, in particular those who are independent. Kavanagh gives us the names but no detail about them. I decided to take a closer look at some and what better place to start then Ballymun, a working class community. Maybe here we will see some encouraging candidates from one of Dublin's most underprivileged areas.
Seán Tyrrell caught my eye... a bit of googling found his website: http://seantyrrell.ie/about-me/
He says about himself:
He goes on, you can read more at the above link. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of actual policies beyond "I'll do what you want", but I haven't read many of his press releases yet, to be fair.Hi my name is Seán Tyrrell, Here you can find out a bit more about me!
I am 20 years old and will be 21 at the end of February 2014. I am in my final year of my degree in Economics, politics and law in DCU. I attended St. Aidans C.B.S. for secondary school and O.L.V. for primary school. I was born and raised in Ballymun and I am a former player of Ballymun Kickhams G.A.A. I have been working part time in the constituency since I was 16 years old, while still in full time education. I also do volunteer work in the constituency with groups such as Ballymun Tidy Towns, The Reco in Ballymun and the Network of Resident Advisers (N.O.R.A) but to name a few. I am sure some of you will know me either directly or through friend / family member, and to those of you who may have never heard of me I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully working for you on the council in the future.
Why run? Growing up I’ve watched the people of this constituency trying to build a home and a good life for themselves, I’ve watched successive councils and governments give them the ‘run around’ as they tried to do this. To put it bluntly I want to help people, to use the skills and knowledge I have learned while studying Economics, Politics and Law in DCU for the benefit of the people, and push for a council that will work for the people, not against them. I want to bring some common sense to D.C.C.
What do I hope to achieve and fight for? First of all I want to state that I will be (should I get elected) there as your representative, and my priority is the issues you come to me with, some constituents have already contacted me with issues to help them with, most of which have been resolved.
Although he has been the victim of some legal threats from the FG candidate:
http://www.independent.ie/business/t...-29901697.htmlDUBLIN local election candidate Noel Rock has threatened legal action against a fellow ward candidate, Sean Tyrrell, after he recently made claims regarding his income.... .... “He has made a claim that I am well-paid, I am not even full-time. I am paid €22,000 per year. It's an outrageous slur to make when I am on effectively minimum wage,” he said.
In a follow up statement Tyrrell went on to say:
http://seantyrrell.ie/not-any-other-...on-any-issues/Today The news broke in the Independent, The evening Herald and the Greek Herald, that I was threatened with a solicitors letter by another candidate (Noel Rock FG) in the up coming local elections in relation to my recent press release about expenses and “Political Sacrifice”. I will reiterate that I firmly believe in a justifiable and transparent expenses and wages system for all elected reps. as opposed to the current ones being used on the council and in Leinster house.
In Politics you have to have a thick skin, something I do have, which is why I am prepared for angry constituents to vent that anger towards my fellow candidates and I simply for being politicians in the first place. If elected my job is to voice the opinions of my constituents and my own opinion on constituency matters on a public level, and transparency as to where peoples tax money is actually going is one of those issues. So I want to take this opportunity to reassure the people of Dublin North West that I will not bow to any pressure put on me by political parties or candidates, nor will I entertain any political parties or candidates who feel they can try to silence me, because they simply can not. As long as I am physically able to I will always give it 110% for the people of Dublin North West to ensure they are kept as up to date as possible and fully represented.
What sort of chance does he have? I know it's not very scientific but I had a look at his campaign page on facebook to try and gauge the level of support he enjoys: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-...73733666063294
He has an impressive 2300 plus 'likes' which surely bodes well for his chances. However on closer inspection it seems that as well as interest from the "Greek Herald" he enjoyed a tremendous upsurge in support from Istanbul to the tune of thousands of 'likes' seemingly overnight late last month:
Ballymun seems to have quite an interesting electoral race.
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