A former DCU politics lecturer will run for the Dublin Central constituency in the next general election, with the Anti-Austerity Alliance.
Dr Diana O’Dwyer will be the only candidate running with a pro-choice stance being a main feature of her campaign, along with rent control policies. She told The College View about her involvement in importing abortion pills into Ireland and dispersing them from an ‘Abortion Pill Bus’, which went around Ireland a few weeks ago.
“We told the media we were bringing the pills on the train from Northern Ireland. There was no police intervention, mainly because they know that the majority of people don’t think this should be a crime.”
Women were brought onto the bus and were given information and told how to access the pill.
“Politicians have been really gutless about this issue, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone put Abortions rights on their campaign posters,” said O’Dwyer, adding she firmly believed there will be a referendum on the issue in the next few years.
Another prominent part of her campaign is the high rents in central Dublin, which she says have risen by almost €200 a month in Dublin 1 while for the most part, people’s incomes haven’t generally risen.
O’Dwyer was involved with NGOs such as World Vision and Amnesty International but became disillusioned with their effectiveness. “What I’ve realised over time is that the NGOs’ response to problems are really just a band aid on the problems of the world.”
“It’s often billionaires who’ve made these huge fortunes and give a bit back and are called philanthropists. Really it’s just perpetuating a class system, and perpetuating inequality rather than empowering people to fight for their rights.”
O’Dwyer is currently a researcher for the Socialist party in the Dáil. She received an MA in International Relation, and her PHD in DCU for her study in NGO’s campaigns to ban landmines and cluster munitions in the 1990s and 2000s.
Chai Brady
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