Ireland’s Future: Change is Needed and Change is Possible

a Chara,

This day next week the polls will be open in the Irish general election. In this short, three-week campaign, the final week will be vital.

Housing has dominated the debate.

I was canvassing a relatively settled and prosperous commuter town near Dublin. The issues were mostly local. Unreliant public transport, lack of a gardaí (police) presence, school and health care waiting lists.

There are undoubtedly problems with public service financing, but the lack of skilled mechanics and drivers, gardái, nurses, doctors, and teachers remains at the core.

There are more guardaí leaving the service than being recruited. Recent research has identified 4,600 Irish-trained teachers working abroad. Irish nurses and doctors are respected and recruited across the world. With a lack of personnel, public services suffer and the sense of crisis deepens.

The common cause for this shortage has been the cost of housing with unaffordable rents and the dream of owning a home outside the reach of most workers. A generation is voting with their feet and making a life in Canada, Britain, and Australia. Visa restrictions have made the dream of working in the US mostly unattainable.

A central plank in Sinn Féin’s campaign has been a call to create a route home for those who left, and the opportunities and incentives for a generation to stay. The party has committed to building homes and providing affordable housing. Guaranteeing jobs for all healthcare graduates and trainees. Offering affordable childcare for young families.

There is always a conversation on the doorstep that rocks you.

I was talking to a middle-aged man who said that he had done alright in life, had a good job, and paid off his mortgage. He never paid much attention to politics. He then told me that he didn’t know what the future held for his grown-up children. They were looking at emigrating. As a parent, he had worked to ensure his children would be better off than him. He now realized that the next generation would be poorer than their parents. They would not have the security of a place called home.

I listened as he told me that change was needed. The opportunities that he enjoyed, owning a home and being able to save were not an unattainable dream but his life. He was willing to give Sinn Féin a shot to put right what decades of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had got wrong.

As a canvasser, he had said the right thing and everything I needed to hear. The box was ticked on my sheet. But the conversation has stuck with me. We have an obligation to make Ireland a better place for the coming generations. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed. Change is needed and change is possible.

That is the message that will push me through our get-out-the-vote operation.

Have a great weekend.

Is mise,

Ciarán

Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America