Meet the candidates: Carol Nolan, Independent

Here is our Q&A with Carol Nolan who is running as an Independent in the Offaly constituency. A native of Cadamstown, she was first elected to the Dail in 2016 for Sinn Féin but resigned from the party in 2018 when she disagreed with their stance on abortion.

What do you think should be done to solve the housing crisis?

A mix of responses are needed.

Completely overhaul the labyrinthine and complex planning system both rural and urban.

Significantly increase funding to local authorities to enable purchase of social and affordable housing.

Create conditions that would draw home skilled construction workers.

Quicker turnaround of derelict and vacant properties.

Expand mortgage access conditions.

What should be done to address the economic concerns that many people face due to the rising cost of groceries, insurance, and the rising cost of living generally?

Many cost of living increases are fundamentally related to exorbitant energy prices, including petrol and diesel. This impacts on everything from food production/storage to food transport.

Tackling energy costs would have a significant and positive knock on impact in a range of areas.

Stronger measures are also needed to prevent price gouging and end production monopolies.

What one issue would be your top priority if you are re-elected to the Dáil?

Very difficult to limit this to a ‘top priority’ as so many areas are interconnected. This is why I think increasing quality of life as a general ‘top priority’ would be near the top as it cuts across a range of population cohorts including those in need of housing, educational supports, farm incomes and access to health services as well as communities devastated by loss of amenities in response to a chaotic immigration policy.

If you were marking the performance of the current Government out of 10 what would you give it, and why?

1/10. Government has presided over a multi-generational collapse in trust and hope and it has squandered the opportunity to bring about real change.

It has shown itself to be arrogant, elitist and ideologically captured by extreme voices on everything from the environment, farming, school curriculum and immigration. I give it one out of ten because some of the once-off measures did assist people in the short term, but as Vincent de Paul and others have noted, they were not targeted to the most vulnerable such as the abolition of the Carer's means test.

Would you be interested in doing a deal with larger parties and other Independents to form a new government?

I am always open to constructive collaboration and meaningful discussion but I will not ‘negotiate’ away my principles or sell out my electoral base who depend on me to give voice to their concerns and to take appropriate policy action based on those concerns and wishes.