Meet the candidates: Fidelma Bennett, Labour (Longford Westmeath)

Here is our Q& A with Mullingar native Fidelma Bennett, who comes from a strong political background. Her late father, Jimmy, was a long-standing Labour Cllr on Westmeath County Council. She narrowly missed out on securing a seat for Labour in the recent local elections.

What would your party do to end the housing crisis?

We need to see a far greater role for the State to tackle the housing crisis. The private market has shown itself to be incapable of delivering the homes we need at the scale and price that most people can pay. We would transform the Land Development Agency into a State Construction Company and increase protections for renters, improve renters' rights, with a ban on no-fault evictions, and ensure that minimum standards are met in private rental and social accommodation.

What would your party do to address the economic concerns that many people face due to the rising cost of groceries, insurance etc?

Labour will protect incomes from inflation by indexing tax bands and social welfare, and we will deliver a real Living Wage. We will reduce energy costs to the European average, and make home energy upgrades more affordable. Labour will give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission greater powers to investigate price gouging in supermarkets, end the penalty on instalment payments for things like Motor Tax, ban automatic annual price increases in service contracts, and impose a levy on the profits of insurance companies.

What would your party do differently to other parties if it formed part of the next Government?

The Labour Party believes in the power of the State to deliver the vital public services and infrastructure our country needs. We have seen eight years of wasted prosperity from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil because they have failed to sufficiently invest in public services and infrastructure. Labour will change that by creating a more active State; one that invests and delivers on the needs of its people, now and into the future.

If you were marking the performance of the current Government out of 10 what would you give it?

3/10. I acknowledge that the Government has made progress in some areas. They deserve credit for making public transport more accessible, steering the country through the truly unprecedented COVID pandemic and mitigating an economic shock was also a tall task. However, it is impossible to excuse the homeless numbers of the past four years.

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

Tackling the housing crisis. It is the single greatest issue holding our country back. The State must take a far greater interventionist role in the delivery of housing.