Four candidates in Dublin Central by-election make cost of living pitch

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

Four candidates in the Dublin Central by-election have made a cost of living pitch to voters less than three weeks out from polling day.

The candidates debated several key issues in the urban constituency, including housing affordability, tackling crime and the cost of living crisis, on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics.

The by-election in Dublin Central on May 22nd comes weeks after dozens of tractors and trucks blocked Dublin city’s main thoroughfare for days over the price of fuel, before being cleared in a night-time policing operation.

The current TDs in the constituency, home to around 60,000 voters, are three opposition politicians: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, the Social Democrats’ Gary Gannon, and Labour’s Marie Sherlock.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Paschal Donohoe as finance minister and a Dublin Central TD to take up the second most senior position in the World Bank, as managing director and chief knowledge officer.

The constituency also saw Gerry “The Monk” Hutch, who has been described in court as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation, come close to getting a seat in the 2024 general election.

Dublin mayor Ray McAdam, the Fine Gael candidate, said the Government had shown the “ability and agility to respond” due to “prudently” managing the public finances.

“A fuel crisis in November and December is a very different situation than a fuel crisis in April or May,” he said.

He criticised Sinn Féin for adopting a fiscal policy of wanting to “borrow more and spend more”, while he said “you cannot trust the Social Democrats”.

Sinn Féin councillor Janice Boylan said the Government was “blaming everything else” and that “you cannot gaslight people into believing that everything is okay when they are feeling it for themselves”.

She said that Sinn Féin was not compromised by backing the fuel protesters who blocked critical infrastructure during major demonstrations last month.

“They’re out there because they were brought to the pain of their collar, they were struggling, they were suffering.”

Social Democrats councillor Daniel Ennis said that people were “really struggling” with costs and called for targeted support, such as €400 energy payments, and a supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers.

“So we can trust the Government that has been in power for 14 years, the best part of my adult life, and they’ve turned the housing crisis into a housing disaster and into a social catastrophe?” he said to McAdam.

The Labour Party’s candidate Ruth O’Dea said that PAYE workers had been “abandoned” by the Government and called for energy credits for those on incomes less than €70,000, criticising “bailouts for burger barons”.

O’Dea also said the Government were “all out of ideas on housing” and reiterated the party’s position for a state construction company.

Ennis said the Government was blaming others for housing problems and there should be a ban on no-fault evictions.

McAdam said it was not “a dangerous game” to link housing and migration and said it was “a reality of what’s happening on the ground”, while O’Dea said it was “punching down on vulnerable people” in what was a “diverse” constituency.

Boylan said that there was a “topsy turvy” situation where Ukrainians were in hotels and tourists in houses and said the Government was “gaslighting” people by claiming to hit their housing targets.

She said: “I can’t live in the area I grew up in.”

McAdam said that the “only way” to solve the housing crisis was to build homes and said electing a government TD would ensure action on housing.

Mary Lou is safe in our leadership, she's absolutely safe. We fully support Mary Lou - we're going out to win this seat

He asked: “What would a fourth opposition TD do that the other three can’t?”

O’Dea said: “What did the minister for finance, what was he able to achieve for Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire (a half-built school on Dominick Street)?”

Ennis said that the city is largely safe but that there are parts that are not safe, adding the solution is not to “police our way out those issues” and investment was needed.

“I’m a good product of the youth diversion programme myself… Sports is the ultimate youth diversion programme and Dublin 1 hasn’t got a full-sized sports pitch, an area that has turned out Kelly Harrington, Troy Parrott,” he said.

“So we want to talk about what a government TD has delivered, we haven’t got a full-sized sports pitch in the shadow of Croke Park, the home of sport in our country.”

Asked about flying business class to San Jose on taxpayer money, McAdam said he did not know he was flying business class and others were flying economy until he was at the airport: “I would be very happy to sit on any seat on the plane.”

Asked about pressure on Sinn Féin and McDonald in the by-elections, Boylan said: “There’s always pressure for us to deliver.

“Mary Lou is safe in our leadership, she’s absolutely safe.

“We fully support Mary Lou – we’re going out to win this seat.

“We don’t even consider the what ifs.”

The other candidates in Dublin Central are: Tony Corrigan (Independent), Colm Joseph Flood (Independent), Mannix Flynn (Independent), Janet Horner (Green Party), Gerard Hutch (Independent), Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin (People Before Profit), John O’Leary (Independent), Noel Smyth (Aontí), Malachy Steenson (Independent), and John Stephens (Fianna Fáil).