I am married to Aisling and have three children: Ella, Tadhg and Cillian. Before entering politics I was a professional youth worker and community development worker in Kildare for 16 years.
Working with young people and in communities inspired me to successfully contest the 2019 local elections for the Social Democrats.
Youth work was the best job in the world, but I would get frustrated when the same issues and barriers for young people and their families came up time and time again. I’d go home and crib and give out about it. Eventually, Aisling just said, ‘Listen, you need to either stop giving out, or try to go in and actually do something about it’.
So I reached out to Catherine Murphy who had just set up the Social Democrats with Roisin Shortall. It made sense for me to join them.
Since then Catherine has been an incredible mentor and friend, and it is an honour to continue her great work for the people of Kildare North.
I believe Kildare deserves no less than its fair share of investment in services for a fast growing population of more than 250,000.
We need more housing, more healthcare, more disability services, greater capacity in our childcare as well as more school places.
I believe now, more than ever, we need to see Social Democrats policies – which emphasise high quality and very accessible public services – to be government policies.
My Priorities
- Housing – I want to see more affordable homes to rent and buy
- Childcare – Capping fees at €250 per month and rolling out Paistecare, a public model of childcare that I have introduced to the Dail.
- Child Poverty – Ending child poverty, as well as child and youth homelessness.
- Health – Full implementation of the Sláintecare plan for a universal healthcare system, free at the point of use.
- Public Services – Prioritising investment in quality public services and community facilities.