Paul Gogarty has served on South Dublin County Council as an Independent since 2014. He was previously a Green Party TD for the Dublin Mid-West constituency between 2002-2011 and a Councillor from 1999-2002. He has contested every General Election since 1992, most recently as an Independent.

I am running because I still have a positive contribution to make and have a distinctive balance of experience and fresh thinking. I am solutions-based and follow best practice . While we all are driven by principles, we should not be blinded by ideology. What works best is what should be implemented and I will engage constructively with anyone seeking to enhance our quality of life and future prospects as a nation.

We need to invest massively and strategically in housing and related community and transport infrastructure. We also have to address the climate crisis and reduce our per capita emissions while putting in place measures to deal with future impacts of existing temperature rises. We need to reduce the huge wastage of public funds to ensure sufficient revenue is available for key areas. Windfall investment should be going into water infrastructure to facilitate housing as well as in renewable energy production and storage (such as wave technology) to reduce energy bills and generate future income.
There are so many challenges that need to be addressed but I firmly believe we can make progress.

It’s likely to be in the debate to elect a Taoiseach, so it will depend on whether I am supporting an agreed policy programme or am in opposition. But the key elements will be on taking decisive action on major challenges early on in the lifetime of the Government, focusing on spending money effectively where it is needed, differentiating between short term/temporary revenues that need to be focused strategically and day to day departmental spending that needs to eliminate wastage and be used effectively. I will be highlighting deficits in public transport infrastructure, the huge dependence on agency staff in health, creative ways to improve housing availability, real consequences for anyone involved in violent crime and a radical reform of our asylum system and a new, targeted work permit system for skills we need and jobs that can’t be filled domestically.