Interview: Diana O’Dwyer, People Before Profit Candidate for Tipp North

For the general election, I have decided to conduct a candidate interview series with the candidates seeking to represent Tipperary in the 34th Dáil. I initially hoped to arrange to do proper interviews with as many candidates as possible, but in the interest of giving the candidates equal time and opportunity to respond, I’ve emailed them each ten questions. Nine of the ten questions are the same for all candidates, with one question (#9) tailored to the candidate. All candidates of the same party were given the same tailored question. I will be publishing responses in the order I receive them.

Next up: Diana O’Dwyer, People Before Profit candidate for Tipp North.

(Disclosure: I am a member of Tipperary Welcomes, a network of community groups and civil organisations working to promote integration and fight for the needs of everyone who calls Tipperary home. Tipp People Before Profit is also a part of this network.)

1. For the benefit of voters who may be unfamiliar with you and your background, please introduce yourself.

My name’s Diana O’Dwyer. I’m the first ever Dáil candidate for People Before Profit in Tipperary North and North West Kilkenny. I’m from Gaile near Thurles. I’ve been a socialist activist for nearly 20 years and work as a researcher for People Before Profit. I believe mass movements and people power are the way to bring about real change. I’ve campaigned against water charges and to repeal the 8th amendment, for housing action and against racism and the genocide in Gaza.

2. Why are you running?

People Before Profit want to give working people nationwide a genuine left alternative to the failed policies of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Greens and Labour. They have run the country in the interests of the wealthy, corporate landlords, developers, and big business for far too long. We believe another Ireland is possible. It’s time to break the cycle of 100 years of FF and FG and fight for a left government with ecosocialist policies that will put people and planet before profit.

3. What do you see as the most pressing issues facing North Tipp right now?

Like the rest of the country, North Tipp is the grip of the worst housing and homelessness crisis in living memory. 3500 households are on the Tipperary County Council housing list. Only 182 social homes were built this year. At that rate it would take 20 years to clear the housing list without anyone new joining it. House prices and rents are up 10-12% in the last year alone and still there are no rent controls. The average market rent for a 1 bed apartment in Tipperary is now €938 – up 12% in the last year. You’d pay €432 for a mortgage on the same place which shows how much landlords ripping renters off. We need immediate rent controls in Tipp and the state to directly build social and affordable housing again to bring rents and house prices down.

The cost of living is another massive issue. More and more families are relying on food banks to put dinner on the table. Prices have gone up 21% in the last 4 years and wages are lagging far behind. Workers need proper wage rises and full trade union rights to get them. Energy prices are still way up on what they were – ESB should be returned to a non-profit mandate to provide low cost energy to households. One-off payments from the government parties are a drop in the ocean and will be taken away if they get back into power.

Healthcare in North Tipperary is in crisis. UHL is chronically overcrowded, leading to numerous avoidable deaths in its Emergency Department. There is an obvious need for another A&E and for a radical transformation of the health system to a single tier system of universal healthcare organised on the basis of need, not ability to pay.

4. What’s an issue in North Tipp you think has been overlooked?

The last census found that 1 in 7 adults in North Tipp – 8,500 people – live at home with their parents. This is significantly higher than the national average. Very many of them have been so completely failed by 100 years of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael governments that they are unable to move out of their parents’ house and start an independent life of their own. This is a huge issue that has been overlooked because it mainly affects young people. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are only too happy to see young people emigrate in search of affordable housing and living costs because it helps them to maintain their grip on power.

5. Tell me about a political hero of yours.

Rosa Luxemburg – an inspirational revolutionary socialist, anti-war activist and champion of workers and all the oppressed. As a Jewish woman with a physical disability who was repeatedly incarcerated and forced to flee from political oppression, she faced a lot of obstacles in her life but never lost her belief that “only direct mass action can bring about change”. I think the experience of the mass movements for abortion rights and against water charges proves her right.

6. Much has been made about how we should spend the €13 billion windfall from the Apple tax judgement. But the current government has been running surpluses for years, so we already have a lot of money we’re not spending.

How do you think we should be spending our existing surplus?

People Before Profit in our Alternative Budget outlined how the €24 billion government surplus could be spent on a range of measures to expand free public services for all, including: expanding childcare places, making it free and establishing a publicly owned and operated system with an immediate €2 hour wage increase for childcare workers; abolishing all charges and contributions for education from preschool to third level, reducing pupil teacher ratio to 15:1 and investing in all the supports needed to ensure no child with additional needs is left behind; investing in a single tier universal healthcare service free at the point of use including an additional €500m for mental health services and an extra €2bn for disability services; abolishing the means test for carers’ allowance and disability allowance, increasing all social welfare payments to €300 a week with an additional weekly €50 cost of disability payment, a new €10,000 farming for biodiversity payment available to all small farmers (unlike existing ACRES schemes), a compensation scheme for farmers reducing their dairy herds and free and expanded public transport. Full details are available here.

7. Every single municipality in Tipp was in the bottom quarter of municipalities in the country for new house builds from 2012 to 2023, with Clonmel in dead last. The number of people on the social housing list has grown to over 3500.

Why do you think Tipp suffers from such chronic undersupply?

The Construction Industry Federation recently told Tipp County Council that developers don’t want to build in Tipperary because house prices are too low and they can make bigger profits in other counties where prices are higher. This encapsulates the problem with relying on the private market for housing supply. Developers and corporate landlords only want to build new houses and apartments when prices are too high to be affordable for ordinary working people. The solution is for the state to build public – social and affordable – housing on a mass scale like it did in the 1970s and 1930s when Ireland was a far poorer country. People Before Profit has outlined how we would do this using a state construction company, funded initially by the Apples Tax billions – to cut out the developers and their profiteering – to directly build 30,000 social and 5,000 affordable homes a year. So many working people are caught between the low income limits for social housing and high house prices and rents, which mean they don’t qualify for social housing and can’t afford to buy or rent privately either. We would abolish the income limits for social housing to provide universal access for all who want it.

8. If the next government calls a vote to abolish the triple lock on deploying Irish troops abroad, how will you vote?

I would vote no. People Before Profit strongly opposes all attempts to undermine Irish neutrality. We are opposed to the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, the use of Irish airspace to transfer weapons to the genocidal Israeli regime, and the participation of Irish troops in so-called EU military cooperation through PESCO which is dragging us ever closer to NATO. In 2022, I helped draft a Private Members’ Bill for a referendum to enshrine neutrality in the constitution, which I believe the vast majority of people would support.

9. You are the first People Before Profit candidate to contest a general election in Tipperary, and the first socialist to contest this constituency since Tomás Mac Giolla in 1961. Tipp, like much of rural Ireland, has a rich tradition of left radicalism, yet rural constituencies often feel like an electoral afterthought for left parties.

Why has it taken PBP so long to challenge for a seat here?

People Before Profit is a small party. Historically we have been stronger in more urban areas but we are doing our best to provide a left alternative in every constituency in this election. The only exception is Tipperary South, where Seamus Healy of the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG) is attempting to regain his seat. To challenge for a seat in future elections we need to build strong branches in Tipperary – so we need people to join us and become part of building People Before Profit! 

10. Tell me about one thing you’ve done to support a community in North Tipp.

I was an active campaigner in the mass movement against the water charges which has left a valuable legacy for every community in the country including in North Tipp. If our campaign of protest and mass non-payment hadn’t been successful, we would all now be paying several hundred euros a year for water.