Dublin Central: Who are your TDs and what do they stand for?

After a tense count, four TDs were elected in the Dublin Central constituency – three sitting TDs and a surprise new one. The Liberty has taken a look at who they are and what they promised in their manifestos.

Mary Lou McDonald 

Unsurprisingly, Mary Lou McDonald took the first seat. McDonald is the current leader of Sinn Fein. McDonald joined the party in 2002 and became the first ever Sinn Fein MEP when she was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 and served as an MEP until 2009. She was first elected to be a TD in 2011 and has been serving the Dublin Central constituency in the Dáil ever since.  

McDonald is unlikely to be able to be part of the next government, but the party’s plans are set out in Sinn Féin’s election manifesto. They have proposed a €37.2bn budget to be rolled out over the next 5 years. They also promised to get rid of USC on the first €45,000 of income and increase the higher rate of tax by €4,000. When it comes to housing, they’re planning on building 300,000 by 2030, 75,000 of which being social housing. 

They promised to deliver a universal healthcare system that would abolish prescription fees for medical card holders, 5,000 new hospital beds, and doubling CAO places for nursing, medicine and social care. 

To fight the cost-of-living crisis they said they supported introduce €10 a day childcare, abolish college fees, and stop any rent increases for the next three years. 

Gary Gannon 

Gary Gannon took the second seat up for grabs. Gannon is a member of the Social Democrats and served as a Dublin City Councillor from 2014 to 2020. In 2020, Gannon was elected to the Dáil in Dublin Central for the first time.

The party says it’s interested in being part of the next government, and the Social Democrats’ manifesto covers what they’ve said they’ll be standing for in coalition negotiations. The Social Democrats say they want to deliver 50,000 affordable purchase homes, 25,000 affordable rent homes, and 70,000 social housing homes in the next give years. They are also proposing a three-year rent freeze.

They’ve also promised to extend parental leave to a year, increase child benefit to €350 a week, and introduce a public childcare scheme.  

Paschal Donohoe  

Paschal Donohoe of Fine Gael was Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the outgoing government, and has previously been a minister for finance, transport, tourism and sport, and European affairs. Donohoe’s career as a politician began in 2004 when he was elected to be a councillor for Cabra-Glasnevin. In 2007, he was elected to Seanad, and in 2011, he became a TD and has been elected in Dublin Central every election since.  

As a Fine Gael member, his plan for the government is laid out in Fine Gaels’ election manifesto. Fine Gael are also promising build 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 12,000 social housing homes per year. When it comes to the economy, they told voters they would abolish USC, invest €100bn in capital projects, and put €2bn into the Infrastructure Climate and Nature Fund per year. 

They’ve also said they’ll be drastically increasing disability supports in the country by investing €1bn in disability services and training, creating 300 new spaces in special schools and 400 new places in special classes. Along with that, they told voters they would invest in health services by bringing in free GP care to all those under 18, reducing prescription charges, and increasing hospital beds by 5,000. 

Finally, they’re promising to recruit 6,000 new Gardaí over the next 6 years, roll-out bodycams for all Gardaí, build a new prison and add 1,500 spaces to existing prisons.

Marie Sherlock: 

Marie Sherlock took the fourth and final seat in Dublin Central in a fierce battle with independent Gerry Hutch. She’s the Labour Party’s national spokesperson on Employment Affairs, Arts, Culture, Media, and the Gaeltacht. Her political career began when she was elected to Dublin city council for Cabra-Glasnevin in 2019. Her stint as a councillor was short-lived, though, as she was elected to Seanad on the Labour Panel in 2020. She also had a role as a researcher in the Party of European Socialists. This is her first time being elected to the Dáil. 

The Labour Party’s manifesto indicates what Sherlock and other Labour TDs will be asking for in any coalition negotiations. On the economic side of things, they’ve promised to return USC to a tax which contributes to public health, introduce new public sector deal which would cause wage growth, and raise capital spending to 14.5% of all government spending.  

They said they would build 50,000 new homes per year over the next five years, introduce a rent freeze, and introduce affordable housing for key workers in cities and turn vacant HSE buildings into homes for healthcare workers. They’ve also promised to ban unpaid internships, abolish the lower minimum wage for workers under 20, and create 50,000 new jobs in the civil service.