In this by-election, the people of Dublin Bay South can send a powerful message
The Dublin Bay South by-election is about housing and the quality of all of our lives as we emerge from lockdown, according to Social Democrats candidate Sarah Durcan.
“This by-election is not only a referendum on this government, but on a way of political thinking that has locked-out and sold-out a generation – lacking imagination, ambition and the ideals of who we truly are as a people.
“Time and again they have put corporations and profits over communities, and shoddy short-term fixes over long-term benefits.
“In this by-election, the people of Dublin Bay South can send a powerful message. That we expect more from our politics. That everyone has a right to an affordable home. That lengthy waiting lists for medical treatment are not acceptable. That nobody should be left behind.
“As an activist arts worker, I am not the typical kind of politician in Dublin Bay South. However, my career over 20 years of working in culture, community development, non-profit start-ups and Science Gallery International, has always been about making the improbable possible. I would like the opportunity to do that in politics.
“I learned from my activism, from the #WakingTheFeminists movement for gender equality, that there is power in a story, differently told. As a member of the Social Democrats, I believe there is power in politics, differently done. Politics based on principles backed by policies, backed by evidence.
“Social Democracy is our best chance of hope for a decent, inclusive, equitable, healthy, economically and culturally vibrant Ireland. We can and must deliver high standards in housing, health, work, education, culture and environment – developed first with the most vulnerable in mind, not a favoured few.
2 June, 2021
Ends