Meet the candidates: Andrew Mannion, People Before Profit - Solidarity (Roscommon Galway)

Here is our Q&A with Ballinasloe native Andrew Mannion, who has been selected as People Before Profit-Solidarity candidate for the Roscommon Galway constituency. The trade unionist works as a support worker for the Brothers of Charity in Ballinasloe.

What would your party do to solve the housing crisis?

We would use the Apple tax money to capitalise a state construction company to build social and affordable housing at the scale required and provide the workers needed to build these homes with fair pay, conditions, and surety of contracts.

We need to tackle vacancy and dereliction by instituting an effective tax on property hoarding and CPO properties where necessary."

What would your party do to address the economic concerns that many people face due to the rising costs of groceries, insurance and so on ?

Alongside encouraging workers to join trade unions to fight for the betterment of their own pay and conditions, we would institute a living wage of at least €15 an hour for all workers and carers, abolish the USC for workers earning less than €100,000, cap prices for essential food stuffs and remove the for-profit mandate of the ESB to help bring down electricity prices.

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

As a socialist party, we will always endeavor to promote and aid in the growth of strong trade unions and community action groups to give people an alternative to just going to the polls every five years to have their voices heard. Political decisions affect workers and ordinary people day in and day out and we want trade unions and people-powered movements to have a greater say.

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

The ability of workers to freely organise in their workplaces and fight for their own interests is extremely personal to me. I believe that giving workers some semblance of agency in their working lives can encourage greater political engagement and do away with the sense of apathy and the sentiment that change isn't possible that has dogged this country for far too long.

Do smaller parties have any real power to enact change in the Dáil?

None of our 42 candidates who are representing People Before Profit-Solidarity would be standing if we didn't believe that we can change Ireland for the better. But, to our mind, real change doesn't just happen with the right parties at the helm of the government.

We need workers and ordinary people to fight alongside us to challenge the current economic system that continuously enriches corporations and the already wealthy, leaves thousands homeless while vulture funds and landlords profit, and is leading us down a road to climate catastrophe.

If we can come together in solidarity as ordinary people, a more just and equitable Ireland is possible.