Taking lessons from COP26 to solve housing crises
The field in the Bailieborough and Cootehill electoral area has further expanded with John O'Reilly's entry.
The Kingscourt independent brings the number of candidates to 13, the most of any County Cavan electoral area. The father of two has a background in construction and farming.
He is markedly different from the other candidates in that he approaches the solutions to the housing, climate and biodiversity crises as interrelated. He advocates for the demolition of inefficient stone houses, save for listed buildings, and a policy to build only new houses or renovate old properties so they achieve the highest energy efficiency rating (BER). To meet the 250,000 shortfall in housing, he recommends the slashing of planning requirements on brownfield sites beyond meeting the current building standards, and respecting areas deemed special areas of conservation or heritage sites.
"Everybody and anybody should be allowed to build anywhere and everywhere because now we are in an emergency. Therefore all brakes are off," he says, emphasising greenfield sites would still need planning.
He further insists that farmers are "the answer" to meeting green energy targets and suggests government investment in installing solar panels on farm buildings alongside the latest efficient horizontal wind turbines, and a focus on biodigesters.
"What's established since COP26 [held in Glasgow in 2021] is we are going to have to be more energy efficient in all walks of life regardless of whether its driving a truck or building a house. Government has to lead the way and rethink the whole plan from start to finish - as they are building houses they have to be 100% energy efficient. A1, nothing less."
John O'Reilly is the third independent to stand in the constituency, with Garry Cosgrove and Fiona McCormack who were both motivated by the Cootehill protests over plans to house asylum seekers in a local hotel.
The field also includes Kristofer Shekleton, who is running under the party banner Independent Ireland.
The rest of the field is dominated by outgoing councillors and the three major parties. Aontú's Sarah O'Reilly will hope to retain her seat, as will Fine Gael's Cllrs Carmel Brady and Val Smith. Fianna Fáil meanwhile has incumbent pair Aiden Fitzpatrick and Clifford Kelly joined by first-time candidate Niall Smith. Sinn Féin complete the field with outgoing councillor Paddy McDonald joined by first time runners Stiofán Conaty and Marina McEntee.
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Toss of a coin in Bailieborough-Cootehill MD local election race