‘Make politics parent friendly,’ say candidates

THREE Sinn Féin candidates running for election in Cork City and county in Friday’s local elections have all become parents for the first time in the last year and say more could be done to encourage younger people with children to enter politics.

Orla O’Leary, a sitting councillor in the city’s South West ward, who is hoping to be re-elected, said that the length of meetings should be addressed.

Ms O’Leary, who was co-opted onto Cork City Council in November to fill Eolan Ryng’s seat, said that her first full council meeting lasted more than five and a half hours.

“What I found is childcare, the long meetings, and unsocial meeting times are definitely barriers to women’s participation in politics,” Ms O’Leary said.

Several months into her role as a councillor, Ms O’Leary said that she has “got into the swing of things” and said that access to childcare has helped her balance family life and political work.

“It really helped when Rhea [her daughter] got a space in creche.

“I drop her off in the morning and I know she’s happy out in the creche for a couple of hours, while I can do my representation work, go to meetings, or go on a canvass.

“Outside of that, in the evenings when I have my committee meetings, it’s very helpful that the committee meetings are done online.”

Vying for election in the city’s South Central ward is Luke McGrath, who became a father last autumn.

“We became first-time parents, myself and Niamh, in October,” Mr McGrath said.

“We have Culann now, who is seven months; I’m getting to grips with that as well as getting to grips with being a candidate!”

Mr McGrath, who works as a political assistant to Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, said he thought “long and hard” about running for election, putting careful consideration in to whether he believed he could juggle everything.

“Ultimately, what made me put myself forward was Culann himself, really, and the next generation: I want to be part of bringing about change in Cork City and making sure that they don’t have the same obstacles as our generation have [particularly around housing],” the first-time candidate said.

“I want to play my own small part in bringing about change for the next generation.”

Mr McGrath said that sessions for younger people with families that inform of the benefits of life in politics could encourage an increase in those seeking election.

“I think it falls back as well to the whole childcare issue. If childcare wasn’t so scare and it wasn’t so expensive, that would make things easier,” he said.

Childcare costs were also an issue that fellow first-time Sinn Féin candidate Eoghan Fahy identified as a potential barrier that parents may face when they are considering a career in politics.

“For anyone in any line of work, they’ll tell you childcare costs is like another mortgage on top of everything else,” he said.

“Childcare costs need to be tackled right across the board.”

Mr Fahy, who is running for election in the Carrigaline MD, has been a Sinn Féin local area rep for the past four years.

His son, Rían, turns one on Saturday, the day the count starts, which the Passage West-based candidate is hoping will be a day for double celebration.

“We’re hoping that he’ll bring us a bit of luck and that it’ll be a double celebration on the day,” he said.