A Conversation with John O’Dowd – Episode 20

Image of John O'Down, side profile.Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd speaks to http://unasttropez.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=http://unasttropez.com/exhibitions/ Share where can i buy dapoxetine in india d heftily Ireland in our latest podcast! John talks about Sinn Fein views on Brexit, the DUP, a New Ireland, ILA & much more!

You can check out John’s twitter account here.

You can listen to the bonus podcast here.

Born and raised in the Parish of Tullylish, near Banbridge, John lives in Upper Bann with his wife and three young children.

O’Dowd was born in 1967 in Tullylish, a rural community between Lurgan and Banbridge. He had trained as a chef before engaging in politics. He began his political career serving for 14 years as a councillor on Craigavon Council and previously served as a school governor. O’Dowd has served as Chair of Upper Bann Sinn Féin and a member of the party’s Six County Executive, O’Dowd was leader of the Sinn Féin group on Craigavon Council. In 2003 he was elected as MLA for Upper Bann. Between 2007 and 2011 he was Sinn Féin group leader in the Assembly and served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee before becoming a member of the Education Committee in 2008.

He has been a member of Sinn Féin for almost 30 years and has been an elected representative for 19 years.

John O’Dowd has been education minister for the last five years and also served as acting deputy First Minister for a time.

John has recently (September 19) challenged Michelle O’Neill for the position of Sinn Fein Vice-President.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Conversation with Rose Conway-Walsh – Episode 16

A smiling Rose Conway-WalshWe are joined this week by Leader of Sinn Fein in the Senate Rose Conway-Walsh who discusses her Gaelic football days, the diaspora, farming, mercusor, and what is required to create a truly Shared Ireland.

You can follow Rose on Twitter here.

She has a website you can visit here.

You can listen to the bonus part of this podcast here.

Senator Rose Conway-Walsh was elected to the Seanad in April 2016 after serving on Mayo County Council since 2009 and the EU Committee of the Regions since 2014. She is a member of Sinn Féin’s Ard Chomhairle and Leader of the Sinn Féin team in the Seanad.

Serving with her Sinn Féin colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, Rose is on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Taoiseach. She holds a BA in Public Management and a Masters in Local Government. Rose has a special interest in Economics and represents Sinn Féin at national and International Events as well as chairing the Party’s ‘Stand Up for the West’ campaign.

Rose has almost twenty years of experience in leading Community Projects in Mayo. She works towards an alternative vision to address social and economic exclusion and health inequality.

Passionate about Rural Ireland, Rose Conway-Walsh strives to put issues affecting the West front and centre of the Oireachtas. After spending over a decade in London before returning to Ireland, Rose prioritises the equalisation of rights for Irish Citizens regardless of where they live. In particular she is to the forefront in the fight to secure presidential voting rights for Irish Citizens in the North and abroad as well as advocating for the undocumented Irish in the US.

Quotes from the podcast:

We have a responsibility toward a wider people whether it’s Loyalists, Presbyterian, Unionists, it really doesn’t matter to me, it’s the individual human being is what matters to me and what part they want to play.

It would be lazy for me to say I can’t stand all loyalists or unionist because they’re different. I learn more from them. I have a lot of unionist friends.

If people believe in the Union or the British Empire, then that’s fine. I don’t, but I am quite comfortable with all that.

The disparity between the regions is one of the biggest concerns I have. Dublin is bursting at the seams with homelessness and housing. The way to address that is sustained investment in the regions, including roads, rail and infrastructure and prioritizing agriculture.

It symptomatic to what has happened. If you have no investment and enterprise you have forced emigration.

There is no change coming. People vote for FF and FG without looking at the policies. In a hundred years have FG or FF delivered for rural Ireland? No they haven’t.

The policies of privatization and centralization work against rural Ireland in all of its parts.

We need more thinkers. People need to examine parties and their policies and ask is their policies going to serve me well, will they serve my children and grandchildren well.

The diaspora keep in touch with politics at home and they need to be provided with an opportunity to have their say.

Do the mainstream parties know what a Republic is, do they know what a republican means? I’m not so sure. Let’s see their vision.

As a Republican there would be no joy in a United Ireland if it meant that Loyalists or Unionists or any other people would be left behind. If I am more equal than someone from East Belfast, then none of this would be worth it.

A United Ireland must be based on human rights across the board. It’s not just Irish language rights, it’s rights to your identity, Unionist, Republican or otherwise.

We can create a wonderful health service here and we can exchange with the North, practices. We can health care free to the point of access.

Two education systems, police forces and health services on one island doesn’t make sense.

There’s huge problems in farming. The beef industry is worth €2.5Bn, yet farmers are getting such low prices. Where’s the money going to? What’s in operation that prevents farming from being viable.

Ireland is the backbone of Ireland. If you were to take farming out of rural Ireland, what are you left with?

In terms of climate change we need to look at the public good of farming. How we make it pay for farmers.

Mercosur in the deal that has been done, the government has sold us down the swanee.

 

 

A Conversation with Sen. Niall Ó Donnghaile – Episode 6

A smiling Niall Ó Donnghaile.Seanad Eireann member Niall Ó Donnghaile joins us this week to discuss early life, why he joined Sinn Fein, role in Seanad Eireann, working with Ian Marshall, Irish Unity, infrastructure and investment in the Island of Ireland and in particular, the North West. You can follow Niall on Twitter here.

 

Niall Ó Donnghaile (born 28 May 1985) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has served as a Senator since April 2016. He previously served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2011 to 2012 and Councillor on Belfast City Council from 2011 to 2016. Elected as a Councillor for the first time in 2011, Niall made history when he was appointed the youngest ever Mayor of Belfast at the age of 25.

He was born in Belfast, County Antrim. Niall Ó Donnghaile was a Sinn Féin councillor for the Pottinger district electoral area in East Belfast. He was educated through Irish at Coláiste Feirste, Belfast and subsequently obtained a B.A.(Hons) in Politics form Ulster University.

Ó Donnghaile was previously employed as the party’s Press Officer in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

A community worker in the Short Strand, the area of East Belfast in which he was born, and a member of the Short Strand Partnership Board, he also works with various other organisations in Belfast on issues such as the developments at Titanic Quarter and Sirocco Quays, and has spoken strongly in support of residents on the issue of the proposed runway extension at Belfast City Airport.

A resident of East Belfast all his life, Niall sits on a number of local boards and community organisations.

A fluent Irish Language speaker Niall is committed to helping build an inclusive East Belfast which welcomes and embraces all of our enriching traditions and cultures in a spirit of equality and mutual respect.

 

 

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