Cork City Councillor
@SocDems
| GE candidate | Republic of Equals | Policy & Research Manager 🏳️🌈 | Law
@UCC
| Master of Public Policy
@UniofOxford
| Runner
I’m honoured to have been selected by the members of the
@SocDems
to contest the next general election in Cork South Central.
I have decided to run in this election because I believe it’s time for change.
We need to elect new people with a fresh vision for the country. I
Privilege in the era of
#COVID19
- Good broadband
- A job you can do from home
- Zoom subscription
- Zoom quiz fatigue
- Not house-sharing
- Netflix subscription
- Garden / yard
- Running shoes / bike
- Full fridge
- Stack of books
- The bandwidth to read
- A loved one at home
When someone who is paid €96,189 by the state says on national radio that those on €18,200 should have their incomes cut you have to ask - what values underpin their politics? It’s certainly not equality, fairness or kindness
#SaturdayRTE
📻
On Saturday, I married
@Navillusonoraa
- my best friend, greatest ally and long-time love 💕
Thank you to our friends and family for an incredible day and to the 1,201,607 Irish people who voted to make it possible 👬💃🗳️
I have a motion at tonight’s Cork City Council meeting that calls for a separation of Church and State, including ending the practice of opening Council meetings with a prayer.
There is a time and place for religious worship, but I don’t think it is at Cork City Council
Tonight's riot must be a wake-up call.
For months, migrants, LGBTQ people and trade unionists have been warning about the escalation in far-right agitation. These concerns have not been taken seriously enough.
From tomorrow, we need a new approach. Our democracy depends on it.
Hate crime legislation alone won't stop attacks. We need to dismantle the architecture of homophobia.
That starts with inclusive relationship and sex education, allies who call out homophobia in all its forms, and LGBTQI+ people being positively visible across society.
As a middle income earner I don’t want a tax cut. I want universal healthcare, free education and decent public transport. A simple tax cut will just end up being spent on private health insurance, postgrad fees and taxis
#GE2020
💰💴💵
Today was meant to be our wedding day. Unfortunately, COVID-19 put paid to our plans. However, we will still raise a toast to the freedom to marry and to the 1,201,607 Irish people who voted YES in the
#MarRef
on that beautiful day in May five years ago!
#MarRefMemories
The next Dáil needs more:
- Women
- Black people and people of colour
- LGBTQI people
- Travellers
- Migrants
- Young people
- People with disabilities
- People from poorer backgrounds
The Dáil should look like Ireland, the current one doesn't!
The
@SocDems
look set to win six Dáil seats. These include: a farmer from rural Ireland, an activist from the inner city, Ireland's first openly gay Mayor, a mother campaigning for work-life balance and two of the best performing TDs from the last Dáil. A great result! 👏
#GE2020
I think people's understanding of elections is falsely taken for granted. Where are the billboard ads with the date and time of the election? Why hasn't RTÉ produced a programme about our voting systems? Why isn't it easier to register? We all need to do more
#GE2020
Today, Cork City Library, one of our most important public institutions, was forced to close.
This was because of a failure on the part of the Gardaí and the City Council to protect workers and the public from harassment and intimidation.
This can’t be allowed to continue.
The way the representative of the Irish Gay Dads group was treated at today's Oireachtas Committee hearing was nothing short of appalling.
All witnesses deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
10 things I wished I learnt at school but didn’t:
- how to drive
- how to cook
- how to shave
- how to consent
- how to vote
- how to unwind
- how to survive
- how to claim tax back
- how to start a pension
- how to be kinder
Questions I would have liked to have seen in
#census2022
:
- are you happy?
- do you feel included in Irish society?
- is your income sufficient to meet your needs?
- what is your gender identity?
- what is your sexual orientation?
In another act of public vandalism, Cork City Council has removed both benches from Connaught Avenue. They should be adding benches not ripping them out!
Today I turned 30. Like many millennials I don’t own a house, a car or a pension. I also don’t have a spouse (yet), children or pets. But I’m fortunate to be well educated, have a supportive family and most importantly to be healthy and happy! Let the next chapter begin...
According to the Examiner, there are 5,000 people on the social housing list in Cork.
According to the Business Post, Cork City Council built 9 social homes in 2020.
According to the Irish Times, over a €1bn has been given to landlords in HAP payments.
What a broken system!
It takes some neck to cut a social welfare rate in the same week that you gave a Junior Minister a €16,000 pay increase. Fianna Fáil are firmly back to old ways. We deserve better.
I’m deeply honoured to have been elected as a member of Cork City Council.
This is a historic breakthrough for the
@SocDems
in Cork City.
Thank you to everyone who put their trust in me. I won’t let you down.
Anyone opposed to further pedestrianisation of Cork should look at Ljubljana 🇸🇮
So far 10 hectares of the city centre is car free with local approval ratings ranging from 88% - 95%.
The air is cleaner, the streets are greener and business is booming. It is also a joy to visit!
Homophobia never went away. The stats speak for themselves:
🌈 73% of LGBTI+ students feel unsafe at school - BeLongTo, 2019
👬 75% have been verbally abused due to being LGBTI - LGBTIreland, 2016
🏳️⚧️ 33% of LGBTI+ people suffered discrimination over the last 2 years - CSO, 2019
Almost every Irish LGBTQI+ person has experienced homophobia, biphobia or transphobia at some point in their lives.
#AllOfUs
have stories we could tell. Scars we could show. Scary moments we could share.
Here are some of mine 🧵
After much thought, I have decided to run in next year’s local elections.
My vision is for a City of Equals where everyone has access to decent housing, timely healthcare and a clean environment.
Thanks to
@SocDems
for selecting me as their candidate in Cork City South Central.
Yesterday, I graduated with a Law degree from
@UCC
📜
Thank you to the lecturers, staff and other students who made the journey a joy.
Thanks also to my family and friends for their enduring support and encouragement.
Officially - Pádraig Rice BSc MPP LLB 👨🎓😁
A Bill I drafted to improve how social housing is delivered is currently being debated in the Dáil.
The Bill has support from opposition parties and isn't being opposed by the Government.
Not a bad day in the office
#HomesNotInvestments
I'm delighted to have started my new job as the Policy and Research Manager with
@LGBT_ie
🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
From hate crime legislation to trans rights and banning conversion practices, there is lots of work to be done to make Ireland a better place for LGBTQI+ people and our families 👨👨👦
In the last 10 years:
- College fees rose
- Grants were cut
- Thousands emigrated
- Internships became unpaid
- Rents rocketed
- Good jobs suddenly paid less
- Insurance increased
- Houses became unaffordable
- Childcare soared
- Waiting lists grew
This is why we want change!
Casey is wrong. Nationality and ethnicity aren’t the same thing. You can be Irish and a Traveller. An ethnic group is one that shares a common culture, language & traditions. Travellers are de facto that. It’s not a gift bestowed on them, rather a fact acknowledged by the state.
Today, New Zealand closed tax loopholes that benefit property speculators 👏👏
PM Jacinda Ardern said, "Our aim is to tip the balance away from property investors towards first-home buyers and curb rampant speculation."
For the many, not the few! 🙌🙌
It’s disappointing to see these posters in UCC.
A recent report from the Higher Education Policy Institute found that zero tolerance drug policies stop students seeking help.
A harm reduction / health focused message would be far more beneficial.
📰
Those born in the early ‘90s (as I was)
- turned 18 as the financial crisis struck
- graduated college to mass unemployment
- started to househunt when the housing crisis hit
- turned 30 when COVID came (ending many wedding plans)
- will there be a crisis for every milestone?
For far too long the nature of lesbian and gay people, the worth of our relationships and the value of our families was considered fair game for polarised and divisive debate on RTÉ. The resulting ridicule was damaging. Let’s not inflict the same on our transgender citizens.
Two weeks ago the Dáil discussed and debated if evictions should be allowed to resume. 81 TDs voted for it, 57 voted against and 1 abstained. Today we saw the consequences of that decision. The laws on evictions need urgent reform!
"I've told you already, it's not my responsibility if you're homeless" says the Garda to one of the 9 tenants illegally evicted last night in Phibsboro.
It is, however, their responsibility to oversee the eviction apparently. (No, it's not)
The
#DublinRiots
didn't happen in isolation.
For months now, we have seen an escalation in far-right agitation, including the forced closure of Cork City Library in July.
We need a robust response.
Today, Cork City Library, one of our most important public institutions, was forced to close.
This was because of a failure on the part of the Gardaí and the City Council to protect workers and the public from harassment and intimidation.
This can’t be allowed to continue.
A number of public policy failures over the last decade have left us vulnerable to the resurgence of COVID19 that we are seeing in Kildare and elsewhere. Top of the long list:
- direct provision
- overcrowding
- low pay
- lack of sick pay
- underinvestment in healthcare
Eileen Flynn could make history tonight by becoming the first female Traveller to be elected to the Dáil or Seanad. She is currently less than 10 votes from the quota. Well done
@Love1solidarity
!
#SeeForYourself
#SeanadElection
More than twenty years after the Good Friday Agreement the British Home Office has finally recognise that people born in Northern Ireland have a right to be British, Irish or both. Shame it took a lengthy legal battle to force the change.
Today we gathered in Cork to say no to racism, no to homophobia & transphobia, and no to sexism.
Our vision is for a city of equals, a city of welcomes, a city of acceptance.
We need a robust response to the rise in attacks against LGBTQ+ people. That includes effective hate crime legislation as well as monitoring, reporting and prevention.
Ultimately we need to root out homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Ireland.
📰 Feature in
@IrishTimes
I’m just out of a four hour Council meeting that could have been done in 40 minutes.
We were appointing Councillors to a collection of internal committees and external boards.
For these appointments Cork City Council uses a roll call voting system where every Councillor has
A large landlord in
#Cork
has increased rents by 19% over 3 years, according to tenants. That landlord is
@UCC
. It should be freezing rents not hiking them. Where is the moral leadership from the University? Where is the just society it speaks of? See statement from
@UCCSU
.
Imagine if we had public bins like these in Cork. Each one has a mini skip underneath.
It would mean no more overflowing bins. Proper segregation. Less street clutter.
There is so much we can learn from our European neighbours.
This morning Cardinal Raymond Burke is saying mass in Cork. Burke holds some ultra conservative views on homosexuality, women and Islam. From 11am I will be giving out this leaflet to mass goers to highlight just how extreme the Cardinal is.
NPHET forecast over 1,000 COVID cases a day by 25 October. According to RTÉ Intensive Care Units may be at capacity by 20 October. This is why NPHEP recommended Level 5 nationwide.
Today is my last day working with the
@SocDems
in the Dáil.
I'm proud to have produced several bills and to have helped
@OCallaghanCian
put forward solutions to fix our broken housing system.
Working in Leinster House is always a privilege. Looking forward to the next chapter.
Fine Gael is like that guy from college group work projects who derails the process, does none of the research or writing but turns up for the final presentation in a suit. Years later the 1.1 ye got in spite of him is unashamedly in bold at the top of his CV.
What is most disappointing about the TDs who are now calling for the hate crime bill to be scrapped is that they are offering nothing in its place.
No other laws. No action plans. No education. No training. No data collection. No victim support. No awareness campaigns. Nothing.
The rain poured but we marched with Pride through the streets of Killarney today! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
As they say you can’t have rainbows without the rain 🌧️ 🌈
Well done to everyone in
@TheKingdomPride
👏👏👏
Tonight we gathered together a large collection of Pride organisers from across the island to share their experiences, learnings and insights.
North and South, urban and rural - the experiences may differ, but the goal is the same: make this one of the best places to be LGBTQ+🏳️🌈
There is an issue of people peeing in a laneway by the Lough in Cork🐕🦺🦢
The obvious solution is to put in a public toilet🚽
The Council is putting up a gate🚪
Fantastic turnout and atmosphere at the first ever Cork Trans+ Pride.
We need to see investment in trans healthcare, legal gender recognition for non binary people and for proactive action to end the discrimination & harassment faced by the community.
#TransRightsAreHumanRights
EXIT POLL: 87% of people vote for the divorce referendum! Third constitutional landslide in a row: same-sex marriage, abortion and now divorce. Ireland has changed once again.
#DivorceRef
#LE19
#EE19
Good mornings work with
@corkvotes
- over 200 people registered to vote in just two hours. The queue went from the Library to almost Nano Nagle Bridge!
#GE2020
The Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act 1989 has been on the statute books for 35 years without a definition of hatred. This Bill just updates that old Act. The outrage is manufactured and too many TDs are falling for it.
It was a real treat to meet Graham Norton at the
@wcorklitfest
last night. His conversation with Maeve Higgins was gas craic! Great to hear he has another book on the way.
Good to see Cork City Council using its powers under the Derelict Sites Act to compulsorily acquire No 118 Barrack St. Hopefully it will be turned into a nice home for somebody 🏚📝🏡
@generoom
According to cat detective
@AliceChauCat
cats can live with up to five families! She explained all in a fascinating interview on
@RTERadio1
last week👇🕵️♀️ 🐈
Ten things from Vienna that I wish we had more of in Cork:
- Green spaces
- Trees
- Bike parking
- Playful design
- Benches
- Public toilets
- Free drinking water fountains
- Public bins
- Reliable public transport
- Limited dereliction
7 things to do during the
#COVID2019IRELAND
shutdown:
- Finish that good book 📖
- Give the house a spring-clean 🧽
- Check in on your neighbours 🤒
- Rewatch your favourite series 📺
- Contact an old friend 📧
- Get the garden summer ready 🍗
- Wash your hands (and again) 🧼
Today I spoke in the Oireachtas about hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the last year, there has been an article in GCN every month about attacks on our community.
It must be stopped. Robust hate crime legislation is a first step. But so much more must be done.
It is incredible how quickly the
@SocDems
has grown.
Nowhere is that more evident than in West Cork, where the party has a TD (
@HollyCairnsTD
), a Cllr, a growing slate of local election candidates and a branch with a long list of members.
Politics in Ireland is changing, and
Things that would make Ireland brighter:
- COVID-19 vaccine
- homes for the homeless
- four day work week
- haul of Olympic medals
- universal healthcare
- better broadband
- less cars; more cycling
- end of direct provision
- another Eurovision win
- state run childcare
Today the Government approved the policy proposals on international surrogacy.
This is another significant step forward for many LGBTQ+ families.
I was delighted to represent
@lgbt_ie
at the events in Government Buildings to mark this important occasion.
LGBT Ireland was named the Community Organisation of the Year at the
@TheGalas
last night.
I’m so proud of the staff, volunteers and board who have worked hard over the last year to provide support services, deliver training and advocate for LGBTQ+ people in Ireland.
The Special Criminal Court is a jury-less court. It’s not normal. It’s been criticised by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It’s a relic of the Troubles. I wouldn’t be rushing to promote or defend it.
Cork City Council must fully enforce the Derelict Sites Act and use compulsory purchase powers for those who don’t engage.
We can’t allow buildings in the city centre to look like this, particularly when thousands of people are homeless.
#derelictireland
At today's briefing in Leinster House, LGBT Ireland and Equality for Children told TDs and Senators that we want the children of LGBTQ people to be treated equally.
We want them to have the same family rights as other children – nothing more, nothing less.
#StillNotEqual
After this pandemic is over I hope the state will take on another virus that's been allowed to transmit for too long. For four decades
#HIV
has had a devastating impact. We need ads promoting
#PrEP
and
#PEP
, quality sexual health services in every county and to end HIV stigma.
This gets to the heart of
#LeoGate
. On 16th April 2019, a frustrated Stephen Donnelly in the Dáil said: "GPs haven't seen it, the public hasn't seen it, and we haven't seen it..." But
#LeoTheLeak
had already posted a copy of the confidential contract to a friend...
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to help the bees is to simply reduce mowing and allow wildflowers to grow (no new seeds required)
#NoMowMay
🐝🐝🐝
Find more great tips here from
@PollinatorPlan
here 👇
Lovely to be in Leinster House tonight to listen to Senator David Norris, former Justice Minister Marie Geoghegan Quinn, and campaigner Kieran Rose reflect on the 30th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality. A lot of progress made, more work to do!
At the Cork City Council meeting on Monday I submitted a written question to the Chief Executive to find out exactly how many Council houses were vacant and what could be done to reduce this number.
It’s deeply frustrating to see almost 350 Council houses vacant. It’s
Today was my last day in my little attic office at the
@GayProjectIRL
. Over the last two years I've learnt a lot about good community organising, the power of NGOs and the goodwill of people. Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement. Time for the next adventure🏳️🌈