About me

I am the Socialist Party MEP for Dublin, having replaced Joe Higgins after his victory in the general elections.

I have been active in socialist politics for over ten years. After Joe Higgins’ election in 2009, I was his Political Advisor in the European Parliament, and have now replaced him after he won a Dáil seat in Dublin West.

Before that, I was a founding and leading member of two major student campaigns against fees – the Campaign for Free Education which organised significant protests against fees in 2002-2003 and Free Education for Everyone (FEE) which was founded in 2008.

I have been active on many issues affecting working people across Dublin and Ireland. In 2003/ 2004, when non-collection was imposed on those boycotting the bin charges in the South Dublin County Council area, I was a leading activist on the ground, organising resistance to the double taxation. When the Socialist Party exposed the massive exploitation of Turkish workers in Ireland working for Gama in 2005 and helped to lead a strike that won tens of millions of euro in backpay, I organised the picket on the Gama site in Balgaddy in Lucan.

Another issue I have been very vocal on is the give-away of our oil and gas to Shell and imposition of an unsafe onshore refinery and pipeline near Rossport, Co. Mayo. As well as being active in the Dublin Shell to Sea group, when work commenced on the refinery site in 2006, I made regular visits to the area to participate in protests and assist the campaign.

When I replaced Joe Higgins I said I would live on a worker’s wage and the rest of the wage I receive would be donated to support struggles, workers on strike, campaigns and to advancing the fight for Socialism. I will publish all my accounts publicly: to view my accounts for 2011 please click here

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