Ciarán McCarthy is a barrister and specialises in admiralty and maritime law. He is also a lecturer in Munster Technological University and University College Cork. Born and raised in Cork, his priorities are affordable housing and access to mental and disability services.

Because I am a father and I want to provide a voice for my children. I do not think that anyone is properly focused on the rights and futures of our young people. I work as a barrister and a lecturer and it is heart-breaking to see that the many young people with whom I come in contact, simply do not have the same opportunities I had at their age. My generation has betrayed them. We cannot continue to beat the drum that the recession and austerity were events which were imposed on us without human agency or pretend that the continued failure to build public housing on public lands, to row back on the spending cuts to health and disability services, to provide properly funded childcare and to make concrete efforts towards a just transition to a carbon neutral future are the fault of politicians past. We need politicians who will stand up and be counted now and make proper provision for the futures of our younger generation.

We have multiple social issues, as I alluded to previously, but all of them are impacted by the current accommodation shortage. There is absolutely no point whatsoever in making promises to train extra Gardaí, increase teacher to student ratios or to subsidise childcare if none of the people working in these sectors can afford to rent or own accommodation and so will be forced to leave their chosen professions and/or emigrate to a country which will properly value them. We need to prioritise the building of state-provided accommodation on public land, end tax breaks for vulture funds who are competing to buy up swathes of housing, prevent developers from hoarding land banks until market conditions suit them to build, support our State agencies in giving school leavers the opportunities to enter highly paid trades and introduce a derelict properties tax with teeth.

What are we waiting for? Let’s get this done already.