GE2016 Profile: Cllr Declan Bree (Ind)

Name: Declan Bree

Occupation: Unknown

Marital Status: Unknown

Priorities:

The joint longest-serving member of Sligo Borough Council, he founded the Sligo/Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation in 1974, before joining Labour in 1991.

He was elected to the Dáil in 1992, but lost his seat in 1997. He resigned from the party in 2007.

Cllr Bree was a Campaign Director in both Divorce referendum campaigns, and is a life long member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.

“I believe we are at a crossroads in Irish politics and the route we choose now will have a lasting effect on the lives of our families and future generations. It is time the interests of ordinary people are put at the heart of our political and economic system, rather than the profits of private financial institutions.

“The Irish people have been betrayed by political and business elites. We must fight to reverse the savage cuts imposed on us by the establishment parties so they could bail-out the banks. We must defend our public services, invest in health and education in addition to job creation. No longer should our young people be taught in substandard buildings, our health service be so terribly inefficient or our graduates and workers have to emigrate to make a living.”