Cork activist not ruling out running for election again

Community activist William O’Brien came close to winning a council seat as an Independent in the south-central ward in June’s local elections.

From Greenmount and living in Ballyphehane with his wife, Michelle, and their three children, he narrowly missed out, polling 845 first preferences, or 8% of the vote, being eliminated on the 10th count, 315 votes behind the Green Party’s Dan Boyle, who took the final seat and is lord mayor.

Mr O’Brien came to prominence last year for publicising dire living conditions in 60-year-old Cork City Council flats in Noonan’s Road, St Finbarr’s Road, Fort Street, and Dean Street. 

Working with residents, he exposed living conditions later admitted by Cork City Council’s then chief executive, Ann Doherty, to be “shocking”.

As a result of highlighting mould, damp, structural instability and rodent infestation, the city council, last September, announced its intention to rehouse the residents and demolish the flats.

Having worked for years as a wellbeing coach, specialising in physical and mental fitness and coaching athletes during competition and rehabilitation, Mr O’Brien is now a maintenance technician in social care with housing charity Focus Ireland.

“What that means is, I look after properties, so that residents and tenants are safe and comfortable in their homes, while protecting their rights and needs,” he says. “Musician and housing campaigner Martin Leahy has a lovely line, ‘everyone should have a home, a dignified place to call your own’, which is what Focus Ireland is all about, really.”

Mr O’Brien played intermediate soccer in the Munster Senior League, and he says he has lost count of the number of teams he played on, but he has great friendships and memories. Soccer also helped to make him a mental-health advocate.

“Having battled depression throughout my amateur football career, I came to the realisation in the second half of life that it was finally time to ask for psychological help,” he says.

“That help supported and guided me to understand my own story, and I got better, so I would say to anyone who is struggling to please reach out for support. It can be life-changing.”

That mental-health advocacy has also informed his work as a community activist, and he says the treatment of council tenants in the Noonan’s Road area over generations remains a scandal in Cork city and speaks to a wider issue.

“Currently, Ireland’s 130,000-plus local-authority tenants have no collective or representative input into how rents are negotiated, how tenancy agreements are formulated, how standards are maintained, or how policies are developed, implemented and monitored,” he says.

“This has to change, because people’s health depends on it.”

He recently joined the Labour Party, becoming part of first-time councillor Laura Harmon’s campaign team for her Dáil bid in Cork South Central. “Some of my values are respect, social justice and empowerment, and they inform my actions and ensure that I put people first, which reflects the ethos of the Labour Party. I’m a happy family man and Labour man,” he says.

He doesn’t rule out running again, but says his current political focus is on tenants’ rights, the pressing need for adequate social housing, and helping to get Laura Harmon elected to the Dáil.

“But if God spares me and if I am selected as a candidate by my party down the line, I will give it my best to win a seat,” he says.