Ahead of the 2024 Irish general election, seven candidates of the Dublin-West constituency attended a debate hosted by DCU. Discussion on housing, education and transport was had, and fiery exchanges passed between candidates.
In a collaborative effort from DCU’s Politics Society and Debate Society, the main candidates of the constituency were grilled by Newstalk’s Shane Coleman on the Tuesday afternoon preceding Election Day.
In attendance was Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats [SD], Caroline Conroy of the Green Party [GP], Conor Reddy of People-Before-Profit and Solidarity [PBP], Noel Rock of Fine Gael [FG], Edward McManus of Aontú [AON], Dessie Ellis of Sinn Féín [SF] and Paul McAuliffe of Fianna Fáíl [FF].
A united view of Ireland’s housing crisis was established early on. Rock admitted that the current FG/FF coalition “has not solved the housing crisis,” but has plans to attempt to fix it via “regulations fit for purpose” and “rent protection zones”. Ellis emphasised SF’s manifesto and plans of building “300,000 houses in 5 years” with 75,000 of these being social housing and 60,000 rental properties.
Hearne took a different stance on the matter, and if elected, he plans to create more protection for apartments, which “have no protection from vulture funds.” He also drew attention to the “60,000 houses with planning permission that are not being built.” This statistic was challenged by McAuliffe.
McAuliffe himself said that there are “20 different sites that we are building public houses on.” After being questioned by the moderator on the “slow progress” of FF’s housing policy, McAuliffe agreed and told the audience that FF said “progress would be slow.” When asked by The College View what FF could do to speed up this process, McAuliffe had an ill-timed memory issue and stated how “he never agreed that progress was slow.” Hearne took the opportunity to remind FF that he believes it “would take five minutes to reinstate legislation to stop homelessness.”
Transitioning to address a pressing matter for students, the candidates went on to discuss education and education fees. McManus wants “the student to be a part of building” an education policy, in a similar fashion to the way teachers are a part of teaching policy. This, according to McManus, will allow for better education and therefore more global competitiveness, as students are “in competition with China.”
Reddy is himself a PHD student in Trinity College Dublin, and after joking about that with DCU students, he discussed how he himself struggles with the financial aspects of “the most expensive third level education in Europe.” Reddy also stated that “two of Ireland’s richest people have more wealth than 50% of the poorest end” which, according to Oxfam, is factually true. Hearne agreed with Reddy, and his plans are to “scrap fees altogether.” Hearne said he “sees students absolutely wrecked, exhausted” and how our “education experience is being destroyed” by the current financial burdens.
Rock drew attention to the new Polaris building on the Glasnevin campus. “I brought Simon Harris to DCU last week to hear your stories,” said Rock. Ellis agreed that students are being “priced out of education” and McAuliffe wishes to “put to bed the idea of a student loan scheme.”
Finally, the candidates addressed transport. Ellis said SF plans to “target the apple money” and will still “put a certain amount away” but also invest significantly more than the current government. Hearne thinks a “COVID-like” response is needed in regards to public transport, with significant investment put in to stabilise services. Rock proceeded to thank Hearne for “praising the government’s response” to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was 1947 before the last reduction in fees” said Conroy, reminding us of the GP’s work in reducing bus fees. Reddy quickly stated how he thinks the next government needs to go further and “implement free and efficient transport for everyone.” Conroy quickly remarked how for this to work, PBP “have to be in government” and not just “standing outside with a megaphone.”
The controversial running of John McGahon was also brought up to Rock by a member of the audience. “The people have a choice, the voters get the choice,” replied Rock, who highlighted how FG do have another candidate running in the Louth constituency [Paula Butterly].
The final audience question was to McManus in regards to AON’s abortion policy. McManus said AON’s priorities are to “look after women and provide women with supports.”
This debate marks one of the final debates in the country, as voting starts at 7am on Friday morning.