NP candidate buoyed by response on doorsteps

The National Party candidate for Cavan-Monaghan says the response he has received on the doorsteps to date has been “positive”.

A Kerry native who has lived and worked in Cavan for the last 13 years, dad of two Mark (44) believes Ireland is trending in the wrong direction in relation to how the government cares “for its own people”.

Having worked previously in Germany and Australia and throughout Ireland before settling in Cavan with his family, it was four years ago that Mark first found a political footing, as a member of People Before Profit-Solidarity movement.

Mark got his first taste for seeking civic change during the water charge protests, even joining the thousands in protest in outside government offices on Dublin’s Kildare Street.

So how, in such a relatively short period does someone switch between two diametrically opposing parties? Mark, who cites the likes of Ben Gilroy as a person he strongly admires, states after being pressed for an explanation: “Because of what's happening.”

“There's too much immigration, too many people mooching off us, taking our good Irish name into it. There is a lot to do with gender stuff I do not agree with either.”

Mark vehemently disagrees with the contents of the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Bill 2022, which will provide for increased prison sentences for certain crimes, where proven to be motivated by hatred.

“Discriminating about 70 new genders, it's not scientific. It's something in your head, so our party sees it as mental health issues,” he remarks.

Beliefs

Mark's election manifesto also takes a swipe too at carbon taxes and the “Green agenda”, as he puts it.

A former horticulturist, Mark is adamant: “We need CO2 for bigger yields in fruits, foods and stuff like that. If they cut it down, plants will basically die and the knock-on effect is animals will die. What will happen to us then?”

Other matters he speaks passionately about include the position of retained firefighters and his desire to see Irish trained nurses and doctors, now living and working abroad, to return to Ireland.

It is put to Mark that some people he'll meet while out canvassing might contend his party espouses racist beliefs. He shakes his head and denies such claims, either directed at him or the party he now represents.

He's admittedly “fairly new” to the political grouping, yet strongly believes the NP will have a voice in the next government.

The NP ran 10 candidates in the 2020 General Election and, while none got elected, they are now standing up on 30 candidates this time round, having formed an electoral alliance with fellow far-right and nationalist political parties - Ireland First and The Irish People.

“I'm hoping. We need change. The reaction on the doors has been positive,” says Mark, who like many others has found it difficult to get on the housing ladder, and similar to thousands of others sees no prospect of owning a home unless something changes drastically.

“We have people coming in from other European countries, getting houses, handouts,” Mark told the Celt.