Meet the candidates: Claire Kerrane, Sinn Féin (Roscommon Galway)

Here is our Q&A with Claire Kerrane, from Tibohine in West Roscommon. She was elected as a Sinn Féin TD in Roscommon-Galway in 2020, following an unsuccessful first general election campaign in 2016.

Why did you decide to run for the Dáil?

It's a great honour to represent the people of Roscommon and Galway. I very much want to keep doing what I've been doing for the last four and a half years, working hard, and trying to deliver for my community – that's what it's all about!

What one issue would be your top priority if you are re-elected?

Priorities vary depending on the part of the constituency you're talking about. In some parts it's housing, in other parts it's healthcare. I don't think we have a functioning health service for physical or mental health, or assessments for children, and that is certainly a priority for me.

Why should people have confidence in Sinn Féin to solve the housing crisis when the party has never been in power before in the Dáil?

I'd like to think people wouldn't not vote for us because we've never been in before. We've been in the Government in the North for a good few years now.

What we're looking for in this election is a chance. We have a more comprehensive housing plan than any that's ever been published by any political party. We have outlined exactly how we would tackle the housing crisis. I like to think that people can put their faith in us, and our plan – the level and scale of which has never been produced before.

What I say to people is: Don't judge us before we've had a chance at all. We've had 100 years of the same parties, that's a long time, and there's still people struggling. It's not just the housing crisis. I can't think of one aspect of our health service that is functioning well right now.

What other party or parties would Sinn Féin be prepared to form a coalition Government with?

We'd love to form a Government without Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, that's the position we'd love to be in. But I think the electorate will decide who will be in a position to form the next Government. Who that will be is anyone's guess.

We know that things can change drastically during the election campaign, we saw that in 2020. It's up to the electorate to decide and then based on the numbers we'll hopefully be in a position to form a Government.

We'd love to be in Government, that’s how you effect change. Our number one wish would be a government without the parties who have been there for 100 years.