Mick Wallace to contest European elections in Ireland South

WEXFORD independent TD Mick Wallace is to run in Ireland South in the upcoming European Parliament elections.

Mr Wallace and fellow Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly both confirmed their campaigns as nominations came to a close yesterday, with Ms Daly running in Dublin. Both TDs were first elected in 2011 and founded the Independents 4 Change grouping in 2014.

They both explored entering the elections in recent weeks before finalising their decision during a visit to Cape Clear over the weekend. Speaking to the Irish Times, Mr Wallace said the EU needs “a big shake-up” and that “small operators” like farmers had been squeezed out.

“I don’t know yet if it’s the right decision, but if we don’t do this now we will always wonder if we should have done it,” he said. “Can we make a difference? I like to think we made a difference in the last eight years, but the people can decide about that.”

Meanwhile, Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit was in Cork to launch Adrienne Wallace’s European campaign, and the local campaigns for Tjitske de Vries (Cork City South-West) and Ed Fitzgerald (Cork City South-East). Mr Boyd Barrett, who was first elected 10 years ago, said that his party will be running activists, not career politicians. “We need people who will fight for real solutions to the housing and healthcare crises. People Before Profit are running 45 Local Election and three European Election candidates who will be campaigning for public and affordable Housing, a decent health service and affordable childcare.”

Labour’s Ireland South European candidate Sheila Nunan also entered the race, becoming one of the final candidates to lodge their papers. She was formally nominated by former Cork North Central TD Kathleen Lynch.

The confirmed candidates are:

Fine Gael: Deirdre Clune MEP, Seán Kelly MEP, Andrew Doyle TD. Fianna Fáil: Billy Kelleher TD, Cllr Malcolm Byrne. Sinn Féin: Liadh Ní Riada MEP. Labour: Sheila Nunan Green Party: Senator Grace O’Sullivan.

People Before Profit: Adrienne Wallace. Direct Democracy Ireland: Jan Van De Ven. Identity Ireland: Peter O’Loughlin. 

Independents: Mick Wallace (Wexford), Diarmuid O'Flynn (Ballyhea, Cork), Walter Ryan-Purcell (Kerry), Liam Minehan (Tipperary), Theresa Heaney (Timoleague (Cork), Dolores Cahill (Tipperary), Maurice Joseph Sexton (South Terrace, Cork), Breda Gardner (Kilkenny), Allan J Brennan (Wicklow), Coleen Worthington (Togher, Cork), Peter Madden (Tipperary).