Born and raised in Glenville, I currently live in Ashleigh. Having attended St. Francis Xavier’s National School and Belvedere College, I have a doctorate in education and am a lecturer in Trinity College Dublin.

• I have a strong track record as a community volunteer, supporting the work of Blanchardstown and Castleknock Tidy Towns and coordinating successful funding applications for our local community centre in Laurel Lodge.

• I am passionate about education and its power to transform people’s lives. As chairperson of the board of Castleknock Community College and Scoil Choilm Community National School, I am working to ensure that every child in our area has a place in a local post-primary school. 

A key part of my role is to represent the concerns of local communities to the Council, ensure residents have input into decisions affecting our local area and where necessary to challenge bad decisions, particularly in terms of planning and development. At a time when building has resumed on an increasingly large scale, we need new housing to be delivered in conjunction with essential social infrastructure, such as school places, childcare facilities and public transport. All too often housing is provided in a fragmented way, without adequate infrastructure and this fails to provide for sustainable communities.

The national response to COVID-19 showed what we could achieve together.  We should be able to do the same to address the housing crisis, the failure to provide essential services and supports for children with additional educational needs and the ongoing failure to provide social and community infrastructure in conjunction with new development.

Providing housing in a fair and sustainable way is a defining challenge for our generation. Tackling the long term scandal of under investment in public and affordable housing should be at the heart of the Council’s mission over a ten year period.

Fingal Council has to play its full part in meeting the climate crisis but needs much greater support and leadership from Government. Progress has been much too slow in upgrading public transport, retrofitting of homes and rolling out a viable charging network for electric vehicles. Indeed in some areas of Dublin 15, the bus service is now less frequent and less reliable than it was five years ago - an extraordinary commentary on government policy in a climate crisis.

 

While the revival in jobs and the economy is positive, major shortfalls in housing, public transport and health care have not been adequately addressed. There is an ongoing crisis in post primary school places in Castleknock, Carpenterstown and Blanchardstown. As a local representative and member of Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, I am campaigning for sustained investment in local primary and secondary schools to ensure that every child in our area has a place in their local school.

At a time of global turmoil and instability, the Council may not be able to change the world but it should be able to make a real difference to people’s lives, in addressing the housing crisis by planning for sustainable communities, achieving a just transition to a low carbon economy which protects low income communities and delivering much needed investment in local amenities and community organisations.

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any queries or if I can be of any assistance – email or give me a call.