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Meet the candidates

In preparing this supplement for this month’s Dublin West By-Election, Community Voice invited each of the candidates to submit a short personal profile for our readers.

Ruth Coppinger (Socialist Party)

Ruth Coppinger is a councillor for the Socialist Party on Fingal County Council, representing the Mulhuddart Ward since 2003. The parent of a young daughter, Ruth lives in Castlecurragh and is a secondary school teacher.

She has a long record of fighting for the interests of workers and ordinary people and has been a tireless fighter against big builder-led development in Fingal which has left communities without essential infrastructure, especially schools and transport.

Ruth has been involved in many local campaigns and is currently working to organise a mass non-payment campaign against the new household and water taxes. Current campaigns in which she is actively involved include the recently launched Defend Blanchardstown Hospital campaign and SNAPT (Special Needs Assistants, Parents & Teachers) to fight the cuts to learning resource and special needs education.

In recent years she has organised meetings and demonstrations with the Ongar/Clonee community to pressure for the opening of Hansfield train station; fought to preserve vital green belt land in west Dublin against unjustified rezonings; campaigned for the abolishment of private management companies and supported the building of a women’s refuge in Blanchardstown.

Ruth is opposed to all cuts in health, education and public services for the purpose of bailing out bondholders and speculators.

Paul Donnelly (Sinn Féin)

Paul Donnelly is married with four children and has lived in Clonsilla for over 16 years. He is one of the hardest working public representatives in the Dublin West Constituency. He currently works with a School Completion Project and the Bonnybrook Youthreach Centre. Paul is very committed to ensuring that every child has access to the best education possible irrespective of where they are from.

Paul is actively involved in many community organisations and this is reflected in the senior positions he holds. These include:
Safer Blanchardstown Forum; Community representative
Fingal Housing Forum: Community representative
Blakestown/Mountview Community Drugs team: Chairperson 2008 - present
Mountview Environmental group; Chairperson, 2011
Defend Connolly Hospital campaign steering group member
St. Peregrine’s GAA hurling and football team mentor

Paul is also a founder member of the Blanchardstown Local Drugs Task Force and Mountview/Blakestown Neighbourhood Youth Project.

He has been involved in many of these campaigns over the past 16 years, long after each election was over. Paul has shown a deep commitment to every aspect of his community and is asking voters for the opportunity to bring this to a different level in the Dáil as a TD.

Barry Caesar Hunt (Non party)

Barry Caesar Hunt, who is contesting the Dublin West by election, was born in Dublin city centre but raised and educated in the local area.

Barry attended Blakestown Community School and then Bolton Street College on a trade apprenticeship.

As a student at Bolton Street college he won the National Apprentice Competition in 1998 and went on to represent Ireland in the European Trade Skills competition in the Netherlands that same year.

He started work at the age of 8 delivering papers in the area and went on to successfully run a number of businesses from 1999 until the downturn in 2008.

Over the years he has employed over a hundred people, most of them locally. He ran a very successful contracting company as well as a number of shops. Not deterred by the downturn he retrained and now runs what he calls “one of the trendiest gents hairdressers in the country.”

Eithne Loftus (Fine Gael)

Eithne Loftus was born in Mayo, but has lived in Castleknock for the past 30 years.

She is a mother of three adult children and has been an active member of Fine Gael in Dublin West for over 25 years. She has an impressive record of community involvement, having been a member of St. Brigid’s National School Board of Management, Castleknock Community Council and chairperson of the Deerpark Area Residents’ Association.

Eithne Loftus was co-opted onto Fingal County Council in 2007, filling the seat formerly held by her Fine Gael colleague, Leo Varadkar TD. Her record of delivery for the people of Dublin West ensured she was elected to the Council in 2009, winning over 3,000 first preference votes.

Eithne is a full-time Councillor and has a proven track record of standing up for Dublin West.

According to Eithne, she is “determined to win this seat for Fine Gael. We are a strong, united team in Dublin West and I am encouraged by the support of my colleagues Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Transport, Sport and Tourism and Councillor Kieran Dennison. Dublin West needs a TD that will be fully immersed in the constituency full-time, ensuring we get top class schools, roads, public transport and other services.”

David McGuinness (Fianna Fáil)

David McGuinness grew up and was raised in Corduff. He now teaches music and history, in Riversdale Community College.

His first memory of being involved in a campaign is holding a banner with his fellow St. Brigids GAA team mates to save the Beech Park pitches in Castleknock.

According to David, his first involvement in political life was “when I began volunteering to help Margaret Richardson, the former councillor, who was my local lollipop lady. It was through this volunteering that I first came in contact with the late Brian Lenihan.

“From day one, I saw the extraordinary commitment that Brian had for the people of Dublin 15. It also became clear to me that Brian’s hard work and enthusiasm secured huge improvements to our community,” he said.

In 2009, he was encouraged by Brian to run for Fingal County Council. Since then he says he has been proud to work hard to improve the lives of local people.

In February he was asked by Brian Lenihan to stand as his running mate in the general election.

Now that Brian’s seat is up to be filled, David says he is “looking for a mandate from the people of Dublin 15 to continue his legacy of service.”

Patrick Nulty (Labour Party)

Patrick is originally from Clonsilla and his family have lived for a long period in the Blakestown/Blanchardstown area. He was educated locally in St. Patrick’s National School and Riversdale Community College. He is a Trinity graduate in social sciences, who also secured a Masters in Social Policy in UCD.

Patrick currently works as a social policy analyst and expert in housing policy with a housing and homeless charity.

Patrick is a strong supporter of local sports clubs and he is presently Deputy Mayor of Fingal where he is recognised as a representative who has established a reputation for hard work and service to the community.

Patrick is a member of the board of management of Riversdale Community College and he serves on the board of the Safer Blanchardstown Forum and the local Drugs Task Force.

Roderick O’Gorman (Green Party)

Originally from Mulhuddart and now living in Blanchardstown Village, Roderick O’Gorman has spent the last seven years as the local Green Party representative in Dublin 15, campaigning on proper planning, adequate school places and public transport.

In this campaign, he is focusing on three key areas: jobs & strategic investment, education and political reform. If elected, he says he would use the skills and experience he has gained as a lecturer and as a lawyer to achieve real changes in these areas.

According to Roderick, “while I share the anger about what has happened to our country and the failure of political and financial leaders, I plan to work as a constructive voice in the Opposition. If elected, I won’t oppose the Government just for the sake of it. When they make the right decisions, I’ll support them. When they make mistakes, I’ll propose an alternative.”

Roderick argues that by giving him a No.1 vote, local residents will “be supporting the candidate who will fight to see Ireland emerge from the recession as a country which values education, where fairness and equality are at the heart of all decision making and where all economic and social policies are made taking account of long term consequences, not just short term gain.”

Other candidates

A total of eleven candidates will contest this month’s Dublin West by-election for the seat held by the late Brian Lenihan.

In preparing this supplement Community Voice focussed on the seven local candidates who have been nominated for the election. When nominations closed on Wednesday 12th October four other candidates had declared. They were as follows:

Gary Bermingham
104 McKee Road Finglas East, Dublin 11
(Non-party)
Artist and Designer

Benny Cooney
40 Connaught Street, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
(Non-party)
FÁS Employee

Peadar Ó Ceallaigh
(Fís Nua)
46 The Maltings, Bonham Street Dublin 8
Building Surveyor

Jim Tallon
(Non-party)
Glasnost, Emoclew Road, Arklow, Co. Wicklow
Farmer

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