Workers Party President Mick Donnelly (Back) with candidates (L-R) Cllr. Ted Tynan, Jimmy Dignam, Seamus McDonagh, Cllr. Éilis Ryan and Lorraine Hennessy
A resurgent Workers’ Party is running five candidates in the forthcoming General Election, and today said that it expects to be in the hunt for the final seat in Cork North Central, where Mayfield based Cllr. Ted Tynan fell just nine votes short of topping the poll in the 2014 Local Elections.
Elsewhere, the party expects a strong showing in Dublin Central, Dublin Mid-West, Dublin North-West and Meath East.
In Dublin Central, Cllr Éilis Ryan – who won a Council seat at her first attempt in 2014 – is expected to poll well. Based in Dublin 7, Éilis has a strong record of community work and a background in international development and debt activism.
At 29, Jimmy Dignam is one of the youngest candidates in this election and is running in Dublin North-West. Jimmy has been active in the Right2Water campaign as well as campaigns to defend James Connolly hospital in Blanchardstown and is involved in the Ballymun-Finglas Housing Action campaign which is fighting for housing to be a human right.
In Dublin Mid-West, Ballyfermot native Lorraine Hennessy lives in Clondalkin where she was instrumental in setting up the Balgaddy Working Together group. As a lone parent with a teenage son, Lorraine is keenly aware of the impact of austerity on working class communities. She came within 80 votes of taking a seat on South Dublin Co. Council in the 2014 local elections.
Veteran campaigner Seamus McDonagh is contesting the election in Meath East. The Kells-based activist cut his teeth on the PAYE campaigns in the 1970s, and most recently spearheaded the Right2Water campaign in Meath.
The Workers’ Party candidates are putting forwards a socialist alternative to the consensus that has brought Ireland austerity, corruption, and growing inequality. They stand on a programme aimed at addressing the housing crisis, ending water charges and building a truly equal society. The Workers’ Party believes that the purpose of the economy is to serve the people, not the reverse of this which is the philosophy of the pro-capital parties. We are committed to the transformation of society in Ireland, to the building of a Democratic, Secular, Socialist Republic in which power is firmly in the hands of the working class.
The Party today launched a new website which contains a comprehensive policy menu and candidate profiles.