CORK NORTH CENTRAL: – TED TYNAN

 

Ted Tynan has long been a political activist in Cork North Central and has been a member of the Workers’ Party since the 1960s.

 

Ted Tynan has lived in the Mayfield area on Cork’s Northside for over 20 years and is a member of the Executive of Mayfield Community Association.

 

Ted Tynan’s track record of standing up for people’s rights is unparalleled. He served for a period as a City Councillor for the North East Ward of the city in the early 1980s.

 

Ted has been a consistent opponent of local service charges, which the Workers’ Party regards as a form of double taxation on PAYE workers and was jailed by Cork Corporation for his stand on this issue in the 1990s.  He continues to play an active role in Cork Householders Against Service Charges.

 

Ted has long been associated with the struggle for decent and affordable housing and has taken a particular stand against unscrupulous landlords.  As a passionate believer in a clean environment Ted is opposed in incineration and believes the answer to the waste problem lies in waste reduction and recycling.  He also leads the campaign to save Goulding’s Glen – a scenic amenity area and bird habitat in the heart of Cork’s Northside – from rezoners.  He has also been a leader of the campaign to restore public access to the Old Head of Kinsale, which is a popular walking area for generations of Cork City people but has been blocked off from public access for several years since the building of an exclusive golf course.

 

Ted is married to Carmel (nee Dineen) and they have three grown-up children.  He is an active hill-walker and is a member of the Cork Backpacker’s Club.

 

DUBLIN MID WEST: ANDREW McGUINNESS

 

Andrew McGuinness is a new candidate in a new constituency.  At 31 he is a young and vigorous representative for the Workers’ Party in Dublin Mid West, which takes in huge urban areas such as Clondalkin and Lucan and straddles the Kildare border.

A construction worker and member of SIPTU, Andrew led the campaign of Dublin’s building workers for better and safer conditions on building workers and is currently employed in a trade union sponsored Health and Safety Training Unit.

 

Andrew’s constituency takes in much of the old constituency of Dublin West, which Tomas MacGiolla represented on behalf of the Workers’ Party from 1982 to 1992.  Andrew has been on the campaign trail for many months now and he believes he can make a significant impact in this, the first general election in the new constituency of Dublin Mid West.

 

 

DUBLIN NORTH WEST: SEAN O’CIONNAITH

Sean O’Cionnaith has been a community and political activist in the Ballymun area for many years.  He is currently Secretary of Ballymun Housing Taskforce and a member of the Board of the Ballymun Drugs Taskforce.

 

Sean has long been involved in the campaign for decent and affordable housing for people and was a founder of the Dublin Housing Action Campaign in the late 1960s.  He has continued that campaign and is currently National Press Officer of NATO – the National Association of Tenants’ Organisations.

 

Sean has been a leading member of the Workers’ Party for many years and is a member of the party’s Ard Chomhairle / Central Executive Committee.  Sean has been particularly associated with the Ballymun area but also served for a time as a Dublin City Councillor for the Finglas Ward.    Sean is Chair of the Ballymun Better Lifts Campaign and led a group of tenants who won a Supreme Court case against Dublin Corporation in 1999 in which the council were obliged to provide a proper lifts service for high-rise Ballymun, including the seven 15 storey tower blocks.

 

 

DUBLIN SOUTH CENTRAL: (2 candidates)

 

LINDA KAVANAGH

Linda Kavanagh is a native of Inchicore.  Married with one daughter, Linda is a former employee of St. James’s Hospital.  She is a member of IMPACT Trade Union.  As a Dublin City Councillor Linda Kavanagh represented this area having taken over from Tomas MacGiolla.  Linda currently works as a Community Development Worker based in Ballyfermot.

 

Linda is deeply committed to the community she represents.  She has a proven track record in fighting for their interests.  Having worked with many local organisations, Linda has campaigned on a wide range of issues.  She has successfully fought for

the provision of additional housing in Ballyfermot that is now known as Convent Lawns, a new clubhouse in Ballyfermot for St. Matthew’s Boxing Club, the setting up of a Community Drug Team in Inchicore.  She is a member of the St. Michael’s Estate Regeneration Team.

 

Linda was the first Chairperson of the Ballyfermot Partnership.  She is to the forefront in the fight to abolish bin charges.  Linda believes that we need a better health service and an improved education system for children.  She has been active on other issues such as the environment, unemployment, poverty, housing, proper support for drug addicts and their families, childcare facilities and transport to name but a few.

 

Linda Kavanagh has worked tirelessly on behalf of her community.  She knows well the issues of concern to the community.  She understands the problems that many face on a daily basis.  When elected Linda will continue that work, putting the interest of people and of the community above all else.

 

DUBLIN SOUTH CENTRAL:

SHAY KELLY

 

Shay Kelly is a native of Crumlin and has lived and worked in the area all his life.  He was educated at Scoil Iosagain, Aughavanagh Road, Crumlin.  Married to Maureen (nee Whelan) – they have two grown up children.

 

Shay works for Dublin City Council at the councils Waterworks Department and is a member of SIPTU.

 

Shay is an outspoken opponent of Dublin City Council’s decision to introduce local bin charges and believes that this decision is the precursor to the privatisation of water, waste and other utilities which he believes will be a disaster for the people of Dublin.

 

Shay is a member of the recently founded Ireland-Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and is the Workers’ Party spokesman on Labour and Industrial Relations.

 

He contested the 1997 general election and the 1999 local elections in Dublin South Central and most recently stood in the Dublin South Central bye-election in which he increased his vote considerably despite the lowest ever turnout in a bye-election.

 

DUBLIN SOUTH EAST: TOM CRILLY

Tom Crilly has lived all his life in the Ringsend area of Dublin’s South Inner City.  He has a long record of being actively involved in community issues in the area.  Tom is a founder member of Ringsend and District Response to Drugs.  He is active in a wide range of local issues including the campaign against the Bin Tax; the successful campaign to keep Markievicz Pool open for community use; and the campaign for a proper No.3 bus service.

 

Tom Crilly has actively campaigned for the rights of tenants in private rented accommodation in flats and apartments in Dublin South East, especially in areas like Rathmines and Rathgar.  Last year he led a major Workers’ Party campaign for a “Charter of Rights for Flatdwellers”.

 

Tom Crilly was educated at Star of the Sea School, Sandymount, Ringsend Technical School, and Blackrock College.  He works in Eircom, is a member of the Communications Workers’ Union and is their delegate on the Dublin Council of Trade Unions.  He is also a member of the Irish Labour History Society and the Irish Anti-War Movement.

 

LOUTH: PETER SHORT

 

Peter Short has been a member of the Workers’ Party for many years and is currently Chair of its Dundalk Branch.  Peter spent a number of years as an Engineer in the Merchant Navy before returning to Dundalk to work in the family plant hire business.

 

Peter Short has long been active on a range of community and national issues in Co. Louth.  He is a long time supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and was Treasurer of the Dundalk Branch of the Irish Anti Apartheid movement for a number of years until the establishment of democracy in South Africa.  Peter has been an outspoken campaigner for stronger Irish government action to force the closure of Sellafield and was critical of the government’s failure to fund the legal action taken by four Dundalk citizens against Sellafield.   He is currently involved in the campaign to prevent the construction of an incinerator in the area and is a supporter of waste reduction and recycling.  Peter has long been involved in the traditional Irish music scene and is a well-known follower of feiseanna around the country.

 

WATERFORD: COUNCILLOR JOHN HALLIGAN

 

John Halligan has been a Workers’ Party activist in Waterford City since the early 1980s and was elected to Waterford City Council in 1999.  The Workers’ Party has held a strong base in the Waterford Constituency since the mid 1970s and the party won a Dail seat in the constituency in 1982.  In the last general election the party’s candidate Ald. Martin O’Regan narrowly missed a Dail seat having amassed almost 6,000 votes before being eliminated on the final count.  Alderman O’Regan died at an early age in 2000 and since then John Halligan has become the party’s standard-bearer in the Waterford constituency and leads the party team of three councillors on the City Council.

 

Cllr. Halligan is a full-time public representative and is Waterford City Council’s representative on the Board of Management of Waterford Regional Airport.  He is a member of Amnesty International and of the SIPTU trade union.  He is also a member of the Ard Chomhairle of the Workers’ Party.

 

John Halligan has been a leading campaigner for the provision of a Radiotherapy Unit at Waterford Regional Hospital, pointing out that cancer patients have to travel long distances to Cork or usually to Dublin for radiotherapy.  He points out that instead of investing Euro 8m in this project the government has squandered more than Euro 16m on the unnecessary refurbishment of Government Buildings at the Glen, Waterford.

A keen sportsman John is a member of the Committee of both St. Paul’s Football Club and Corinthians FC.

The Workers’ Party believe that John Halligan has an excellent chance of being elected to Dail Eireann and point out that the party has already the highest vote of any part in Waterford City and has been active in expanding its support vote in the county.