Cork City South East Green Party Local Area Representative Honore Kamegni hosted a ‘Get to Know Your Candidate’ event at Mahon Community Centre on Saturday.

The Get To Know Your Candidate event gave inhabitants of the Cork City South East constituency the opportunity to quiz Honore about his plans for the area if he gets elected next year.

Honore is originally from Cameroon and is acutely aware of the impact climate change has on the people in his homeland and other parts of the world.

“I'm from Cameroon and I'm coming from a very warm part of the world. People living with over 40 degrees there and it's very hot.

“The climate is vital for us that our planet is vital and we are we have to make sure that we leave a safe planet to our children. That's why I joined the Green Party to make sure I leave the best world for my children,” Honore said.

The Green Party candidate highlighted that the current housing crisis is a major issue that needs a solution.

“We need to deal with the concern that we will have now regarding the eviction ban. We have trust and faith in our leaders to guide us and come up with a reasonable concept plan or ideas to redress the situation.

“I think the main objective is to, of course, build more houses for people to live in. The cost of rent is already very, very high and we need to help families,” he added.

The government announced that the 20% reduction in transport fees and Young Adult Cards will continue until the end of 2023, which should put “more money back into the pocket of the parents” that may be used to pay rent for students.

“[The government] has already brought down the fare of transport, bringing down the costs for families that are paying for the rent for the children as well and that means more money going back into the pocket of the parent that can be put into the cost of rent.

“Over the next few years, we have to build more houses and more student accommodation, as is already on the way,” Honore added.

According to Honore, The Green Party will continue to help ease the cost of living for Irish people during their tenure in government.

“We need to make life easier for Irish people because they deserve that. We are aware and we know it's very hard out there. People are finding it very, very, very, very tough to deal with daily living cost of living," he added.