Irish Musicians On The General Election: Eve Belle Calls For A Radical Stance Against Inaction

There are so many issues that I’ve heard relatively little about in the run-up to the election, especially direct provision and trans health care. They should be more to the forefront of our political agenda, because there are massive human rights violations going on. I’d like to see people take a more radical stance against that inaction.

There’s an unfortunate lack of people taking open stances, especially regarding trans health care. Every government we’ve had in Ireland has been right or centre-right, so any break away from that is going to lead to facilitation of system reform – which is what we need at the moment. We’ve got a system that doesn’t prioritise vulnerable people, or people that need help.

I’ve definitely seen a spike in the amount of young people who are interested in this General Election. The Repeal referendum was a huge milestone in getting young people politically engaged. We were very vigilant with regard to how political parties comported themselves within the Repeal referendum, and that has stuck with people.

I would feel pretty resoundingly negative about another Fine Gael government or a Fianna Fáil government. We’re currently in a system where countless young people are being forced out of Ireland. There are people dying in direct provision and we’re not hearing about it. There are people who aren’t being given proper care, or any quality of life. That’s all happening under this current government.

So, if we vote Fine Gael, or Fianna Fáil who are effectively identical, we’re just going to be settling for more of the same – and that’s destroying the future for young people in this country.