Irish politics: The next generation

Killian Forde (Sinn Fein)
Touted by Dubliner magazine as the man who might become ‘Ireland’s first Sinn Fein Taoiseach’, Bayside native Forde is currently Sinn Féin’s Finance spokesman on Dublin City Council, and serves as a councillor for Donaghmede ward, having topped the poll in 2004’s local elections with more than 3,500 votes. Articulate, rational, entertaining and not at all doctrinaire, Forde’s suave image could scarcely contrast more with stereotypical perceptions of Republican politicians. As with any Sinn Féin candidate, Forde will have to contend with a barrage of hostile coverage in the mainstream media, but his debating skills should amply equip him for the task.

Barry Andrews (Fianna Fail)
In a Fianna Fail party still largely wary of confronting its sometimes murky past, Dun Laoghaire TD Barry Andrews stands apart. Outspoken and articulate, Andrews (39) isn’t afraid of putting it up to FF’s ruling elite – in June of last year he was one of a number of disaffected back benchers who attempted to establish a committee to influence government policy. The son of former Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews and brother of comedian Dave McSavage, Andrews combines a career politician’s polish with an easy wit and an open manner. With a fair wind, he could be a Minister before the year is out.
Clare Daly (Socialist Party)
A long-standing SP activist whose ferocious articulacy compares not unfavourably with that of her party colleague Joe Higgins, Daly is widely expected to join Higgins in Dáil Éireann this year, having built up a large support base in Dublin North. Currently a councillor for Swords ward, Daly was sent to Mountjoy Prison for a month in 2003 for her activities in the bin-tax protests. The Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen, subsequently accused herself and Higgins of ‘political grandstanding of the highest scale’. Daly, a SIPTU shop steward in Aer Lingus at Dublin Airport, was undaunted.
Ivana Bacik (Labour)
Ivana Bacik first came to prominence as the President of the Student’s Union in Trinity College, where she took a courageous stand on the issue of reproductive rights, and on women’s right to choose. A superb public speaker, she ran as a candidate for Labour in the European Parliament in 2004 and performed well, though she failed to take a seat. As Professor of Law in Trinity, she is now poised to take a seat in Seanad Éireann. If elected, she will not take any party whip. She will, however, bring quality of a different order to proceedings in Leinster House.
Rory Hearne (People Before Profit Alliance)
Trinity PhD student, grassroots campaigner and Hot Press journalist Hearne will run for the Dáil in Dublin South-East for the People Before Profit Alliance. A member of the Socialist Workers Party, Hearne is particularly strong on the need for greater unity between Ireland’s various leftist factions. Hearne’s analysis can hardly be faulted: the Celtic Tiger has enriched big business and greedy multinationals, while more than 100,000 Irish children live in poverty; homelessness blights the lives of thousands; the government continues to roll out a red carpet for George Bush’s war planes; and Michael McDowell’s proposed Criminal Justice Bill represents an overt assault on personal civil liberties. You’d think there’s be no better time for a shift left, if a strategy could be agreed. Hearne, for one, is working on it.
Lucinda Creighton (Fine Gael)
Young, outspoken and photogenic, Trinity law graduate Creighton – a native of Mayo – has served as a councillor on Pembroke ward since 2004, and aims to land a seat in Dublin South East come election day. A former adviser to Frances Fitzgerald and Vice-President of Young Fine Gael, Creighton is a forthright champion of closer European integration, having overseen the ‘It’s Better 2B Inside’ campaign during the last Nice referendum, and served as deputy secretary-general of the European Peoples’ Party youth wing. Mind you her poster campaign declaring that she doesn’t feel safe walking home at night is unlikely to win her any support from younger voters.
Niall O Brolcháin (Green)
Currently the Mayor of Galway city, O Brolcháin is the Green spokesman for Consumer Affairs, and has acted as their health spokesperson. Since his accession to the mayoralty, Galway has become the Republic’s undisputed ‘greenest’ city. It consistently tops the recycling charts, and has achieved official World Health Organisation ‘healthy city’ status, a distinction not so far achieved by any other city in Ireland. O Brolcháin is also a keen proponent of the Irish language, and is actively promoting Galway as a bilingual city.