Meet the candidates: Peter Burke, Fine Gael (Longford Westmeath)

Here is our Q&A with Peter Burke from Mullingar was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 2016 and was appointed as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in April of this year.

When it comes to housing, why should the Irish people vote your party back into power when homelessness is at a record level in this country?

This government has put a laser focus on the delivery of new housing, and we can see progress made with 58,000 new homes commenced in the last 12 months alone, and 500 first-time buyers now getting the keys to their new home every week.

The solution to housing and homelessness is delivery, Westmeath County Council have added 900+ units to their social housing stock in the last term and we need to keep this momentum up.

How do you intend to address the economic concerns that many people face due to the rising cost of groceries, insurance etc and the rise in the cost of living generally?

A comprehensive set of new measures have been introduced by this government since we saw inflation rise mid 2022, including energy credits, bonus and double payments for those on Carers Allowance, Disability and other means-tested payments. We had a reduction in school transport costs, college costs, increases to Child Benefit and targeted measures such as major increases to the Fuel Allowance, Back to School Allowance and other payments.

Inflation has now stabilised at under 2%, but some prices stay stubbornly high such as electricity costs, and Fine Gael have committed to review further payments if re-elected, while balancing the risk of adding more fuel to the fire when it comes to inflation.

What is your proudest achievement as a TD over the past five years?

I would say the designation of Moate as a Pathfinder Town when I introduced the Towns First Initiative as Minister for Local Government and Planning. This has ensured that investment into Moate has followed this policy change as we have seen in the last three years.

Is there anything personally that you would do differently?

I am certainly not immune to making mistakes. I try not to dwell too much on issues I can’t change but try and learn for the future.

Something that springs to mind where I believe the Government got things wrong were the rules put in place around maternity hospitals when it came to important appointments and early stages of labour. It is an incredibly important time in your life, and no person should ever have to go through any element of that on their own.

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

I think we need to keep a relentless focus on housing so that families can have security when it comes to their home, and young people have the opportunity to purchase an affordable home and build their lives here.