O'Rourke has been a Sinn Féin TD for Meath East since 2020. He was a member of Meath County Council from 2014 to 2020. O'Rourke is the party spokesperson for environment and climate action. Before entering politics full-time, he worked as a medical scientist.

This is a historic election. The people of Ireland have an opportunity to change the government, ending 100 years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in power. Together, they have created and presided over a system that is fundamentally broken. Despite being told that our economy is booming, ordinary workers and families can’t make ends meet. This has to change.

I am standing because I want to tackle these issues head on, to represent the people of Meath-East in a Sinn Féin government. I believe a Sinn Féin government is the best placed party to deliver lasting solutions to these problems.

If elected, I will continue to work with and stand up for the people of Meath East. Over the last 5 years I have repeatedly raised the chronic deficits in Meath’s services and infrastructure including severe shortages in housing and health services, dwindling garda numbers, unreliable public transport, crumbling water infrastructure and a lack of affordable childcare. Only a Sinn Féin government can change this.

We will deliver enough affordable housing, create public transport that works, enhance Garda presence in our communities, make childcare available at €10 per day, bring down energy bills and more.

While there is no doubt that the country is confronted by a plethora of problems, housing is the single biggest issue that we face. Sinn Féin are the only party who can fix what successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have broken. Without a change, the crisis will only deepen.

With more of the same, things will only get worse; house prices and rents will continue to sky-rocket, young people will remain trapped living at home with their parents or be forced to emigrate and the numbers of adults and children experiencing homelessness will continue to rise. This cannot continue. Sinn Féin is committed to ending the housing crisis.

Sinn Féin will make housing affordable and bring home ownership within reach of working people. We will transform housing in Ireland, from how we think and plan homes, the communities they are part of, the infrastructure that is required to sustain them to how we build homes.

We are committed to delivering 370,000 new homes, private and public, affordable and to rent. Sinn Féin will deliver the most ambitious public housing programme in the history of the state.

If re-elected, I will use my first speaking time to highlight the urgent need to address chronic shortages in Meath-East’s basic necessities for example in housing, health services, water infrastructure, childcare, school places and gardaí. The number of people living in Meath-East has grown faster than any other constituency, yet the upgrade and expansion of essential infrastructure and services has failed to keep pace.

Ordinary workers and families are finding it increasingly difficult to get by day to day. As a result, more and more people feel ripped off and left out to dry; they feel like they have nowhere left to turn.

As part of a Sinn Féin government or in opposition, I would let the people of Meath-East know that I have their back; that I am determined to make sure their basic needs are met, and that life will become better for them.