Ballyjamesduff MD Candidates: Cllr Shane P O'Reilly (Ind)

Cllr Shane P O’Reilly is from Mullagh and has been a local area representative in the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District since 2004. He represented Fianna Fáil until shortly after the last Local Elections when he “parted ways” with the party and became an Independent. Cllr O’Reilly is running this time round for Independent Ireland. He is married to Alisha and the couple have five children aged 18, 17, 14, 12 and 10.

How do you unwind?

What I love is the football, the GAA. I adore my local club Cuchulainns. I go to a lot of games and sometimes I umpire. I also love to have a pint with my friends and chat about different things. We do have fairly heated debates at times, especially about football, but I like that.

Why should people vote for you?

I’m facing into my fifth election and was a Fianna Fáil councillor for 16 years. We parted company in 2020 but I have a proven track record of delivery. I believe I’m accessible and, most of all, I care about people and my community. In my job as a funeral director, I deal with people and their grief all the time and that has made me an empathic person, and I hope that people will see that.  And, above all else, I will always do my best.

What will you do to address housing supply?

This is a three-pronged issue - number one is social housing, number two, we have private housing and number three is the rental market. As councillors we can work on social housing but we need money from the State to do it. In fairness record monies have gone into housing and Minister Darragh O’Brien, he is doing his best. The rollout is slow. We have a situation in Mullagh actually where we have a housing estate that has been going on for years. Delivery is shockingly slow and the reason for that is bureaucracy and red tape.

Has Ireland taken in enough refugees?

We have taken in too many. None of this is about race, it’s about common sense and facts. Ireland had to do what it had to do under European Law, which is an issue. I believe the government ministers took their eye off the ball and I have called three times for Roderic O’Gorman to resign. I have sympathy for the Ukrainians and we did a lot of work in Mullagh to welcome them and raise money for the cause. They were displaced by war but there are issues with the way in which the Government dealt with them and a lot of people are annoyed over it. Those seeking asylum coming through Northern Ireland must be dealt with accordingly. We here in Ireland have done our bit.

What is your main campaigning issue?

Immigration and roads are the issues. We got a fantastic injection of €1.2M from Minister Heather Humphreys recently under the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) but unfortunately we need more. I am constantly challenging Minister Eamon Ryan and the Green agenda. But what Emaon Ryan has done to Irish agriculture with regard to carbon issues is unacceptable. I believe the Greens have given the two fingers to rural Ireland and the sooner there is a general election, the better!

Should the biodiversity/climate crises be at the very top of the council’s agenda?

No, it shouldn’t be at the top. We can’t be asked as a country to do more than the countries that are the biggest polluters on this earth. As a country, Ireland accounts for 0.001% of the carbon emissions of this world. We are being asked to do too much too soon and it’s hitting people in their pocket. Everyone is doing their bit but China, Russia and Brazil - which is cutting down the rainforest - need to do their bit too.

Who, in the political sphere, has influenced you the most?

My very first outing into politics was in 1990; I was nine-years-old and the late, great Jude Daly of Main Street, Mullagh, brought me along to go up the ladder to attach the election posters for Brian Lenihan who was running for Presidency that year. Jude Daly, who died a very young man, instilled in me a belief that I could go for office. When I did get elected, Jude never got to see it and that is a big regret for me because I know he would have been so proud. Number two was Albert Reynolds who in my mind was completely underrated in his efforts to bring peace to this nation. He was a businessman, a family man and a man of faith and was so effective.