PBP provide voters with alternative
A former councillor for People Before Profit on South Dublin County Council before moving to Sligo to live with her family, Emma Hendrick now finds herself campaigning for a seat in the somewhat unfamiliar setting of Cavan-Monaghan.
But that won't stop her drive to represent the people if she is elected to the 34th Dáil after polls close on November 29.
In the 2020 General Election, PBP stood Emmett Smith, earning 830 first preference votes before being eliminated in the sixth count ahead of Labour’s candidate and one independent.
It was his second General Election.
Emma was co-opted as a representative for Tallaght South in place of the outgoing Nicky Coules, but failed to retain the seat in the 2019 Local Elections. She stood again in 2024, this time for PBP-Solidarity in the Ballymote-Tubbercurry area, where she received 203 votes.
Yet Emma is no stranger to fighting political campaigns.
As a council representative, she fought to bring more council land into public use, mobilised local communities to improve services, and was heavily involved in the Repeal the 8th campaign in Dublin Southwest during 2018.
Representation
She came into politics just before the heady days of the anti-water charges campaign, name-checking fellow party politician for Dublin South-Central, Bríd Smith, as a major influence.
The mum of two was in the process of preparing to travel to Dublin to join thousands of others last weekend in marching across the city in support of Palestine and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza when the Celt caught up with her.
“I was asked to stand [in Cavan-Monaghan] because we don't have a representative there. We don't have a branch. But we obviously want to give people a choice, and a choice between not only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but a choice to vote for someone who definitely won't got into government with those parties.”
She adds too: “I think it's important that there is a really strong anti-racist voice in this campaign because we know that there are many far right candidates running in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency and we know Sinn Féin, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have all back-pedalled on their position on immigration.”
The stay at home mum who has a Master’s degree in Public Advocacy and Activism from the National University of Ireland in Galway has in the past drafted motions focusing on supporting women in the workplace.
Emma fought for free period products, breastfeeding friendly spaces, and maternity leave to support women entering local politics. Within PBP she is the chair of the Women and Gender Equality caucus, which is currently in the process of finalising it's ‘Women's Manifesto’.
Gender representation in politics is something Emma feels strongly about, at local and national level. With two young children, not to mention the geographical disconnect, Emma hasn't got the network to begin a full scale knocking-on-doors canvas, so will be pursuing much of her campaigning online.
Many of the issues Emma highlights are those which she says “inhibit” women from living out their aspirations, not just in the political sphere.
“I would be the only candidate explicitly pro-choice, explicitly anti-racist, explicitly say let this end this 100 year rule of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I feel our policies transcend. There is a crisis in housing, a crisis in healthcare, in childcare. There is a crisis in rural Ireland and it's the same for me living in Sligo and it is for anyone living in Cavan and Monaghan.”