Bailieborough-Cootehill MD Candidate: Cllr Sarah O'Reilly (Aon)

Coopted in 2016 as a Fianna Fáil councillor and then, having left the party in 2017 to join Aontú. She made headlines by topping the poll in 2019.

She lives with partner Adrian Rogers in Bailieborough and has four sons aged between 25 and 33, three of who have emigrated to Canada and Australia. Last year she became a grandmother to Davie.

How do you unwind?

I probably submerge in the work I do too much, so I need something and throw myself into a very busy professional kitchen at the weekends to cover for chefs.

Why should people vote for you?

I completely commit to whatever job I take on, and I have great empathy with people. If something is wrong in somebody's life and if I can do anything to make their lives better, I will try. I take it very bad if I can't help somebody and sometimes that happens.

What will you do to address the housing supply?

I highlight through motions in the council issues to bring to the government's attention. The council stopped building houses in the last 10 years and that was a major problem. They have committed to doing that again. Now we have the new social housing estate with 45 houses in Bailieborough, and the construction is starting in June. That should take pressure off the rental sector, because there are a lot of people who are looking for social houses who are in rented accommodation.

It takes a long time to get to this stage where we are going to start a site, but that's all in place now and we are going to see the rewards of that. However we need more affordable housing, and there's still the problem of people not able to get planning.

Has Ireland taken in enough refugees?

Until our services improve, I think so. We've done more than the average European country and it has worked well - there's Ukrainians in Bailieborough who have integrated well, they are working in the area.

In terms of IPAS, our actual immigration policies weren't being implemented and I think we were seen as a soft touch, and you see the headlines this week about people trafficking from the UK.

There's a lot said about immigration, but the Justice Department is under staffed, under resourced, like every other service. They're not fit to cope with the applications that are coming in, and there are some people in this country 14 years, 15 years in direct provision centres - that's horrendous. It's not fair on the people who genuinely need help, but it's not fair on the taxpayer who is paying for people to stay indefinitely in shocking circumstances. Direct provision is not working well.

What is your main campaigning issue?

Roads definitely. If you are working, paying tax and desperately trying to make ends meet and you burst a wheel or your car fails the NCT, that can do real damage to people who are hard pressed. I fully empathise with that because I was a single parent just making ends meet, paying a mortgage and getting kids to school - and if something like that happened, it would take weeks to recover from the cost. That is the main issue: central government funding for the roads.

There's three generations living in houses. There's people who couldn't afford the rent in Dublin and are working from home. I've met so many of them, people who cannot get on the property ladder. They may be professionals earning good money but it's still not good enough.

These people really do want their own houses, they want to be independent.

Should biodiversity/climate crises be at the very top of the council's agenda?

I don't think it should be at the very top, but I don't see why it should be one or the other. We incorporate it into everything. We have a climate action plan launched a month ago, and we have actions in that plan that will be incorporated into everything we do.

Definitely the message is getting home how important it is to preserve habitats. And I don't believe that carbon taxes or punitive measures are the way.

Who in the political sphere has influenced you most?

Peadar Toibin, I admire him so much. He has great energy. He totally believes in making Ireland a better place to be and a better place to live in. Honesty and integrity are really important and he has that in spades. And the ability to listen to people.