Paralympic gold medallist Darragh McDonald, who is running in the Gorey/Kilmuckridge area in the June local elections, has said he wants to give something back to the local community after the support he received during his swimming career.
At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr McDonald and his wife moved back to the Co Wexford town when the opportunity to work remotely was made available.
Mr McDonald was born missing his right arm below the elbow, one leg from below the knee and one above the knee.
He won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 before claiming the gold medal in the 400m freestyle in London in 2012.
Mr McDonald, who works as an accountant, told BreakingNews.ie: "Now that we're home, I want to do my bit. I was heavily supported with my swimming over the years, and now I want to give back to make this part of the county better, more successful, and help as many people as possible.
"I have a full-time job, but I also have the capacity to give more and do more. That was the logic of getting into politics.
"I would have met a lot of politicians through my swimming. I'm not saying they were all perfect, but it seemed like a good way to help as many people as possible and make an impact in the right way."
Mr McDonald has never let his disability hold him back, and he said he would rather be known as a "good politician first who happens to have a disability".
"Personally, it gives you a certain outlook and experience, you're used to fighting for things and fighting for services. I don't want to be 'the disabled candidate', that could be a second feature or whatever, but I'd rather be seen as a good politician who happens to have a disability.
"When I was swimming in the Paralympics and even in school, to me the disability thing wasn't a huge thing, so I don't want to step into a role as an advocate. I don't think there needs to be disabled people in the Dáil, we need a good cross-section of society there.
"I think disability services in Ireland need reform. I think every government over the last 20 years has failed to do that. If there had been more disabled people in politics, maybe that would be different."
Mr McDonald feels more can be done at a local level to push for facilities for towns like Gorey.
"From what I saw in Gorey and north Wexford, I thought 'I can do better than this'. I don't think politicians are getting the best they can for Gorey, and I want to give it a go myself to see what I can deliver."
Mr McDonald turns 30 one week after the June 7th elections, and while he has no family political affiliations, he said he did a lot of research before deciding to run with Fine Gael.
"To me, Fine Gael is about equality of opportunity. Incremental, realistic and logical changes in the right direction.
"Linking back to being an athlete, there's no magic wand to make you the best, it's slow, it's hard work and not always glamorous and fun, but in slow and incremental steps you can look back to six months or a year ago and think, 'God, we made it that far, it was tough, but we got there'."
On his priorities, he cited housing, mental health, disability services, and Garda numbers as areas where he hopes to improve Gorey, a busy commuter town about an hour and a half south of Dublin.
"I'm still learning, but the role of a county councillor has two parts, I think; there's helping people with planning and that side of things, but there's also a hugely important role in infrastructure and long-term development.
"In terms of my goals, I want north Wexford to get what it deserves. The facts show Gorey needs infrastructure development. If you look at the capital investment programme the county gave us, over €200 million of budget, less than 10 per cent initially, and then it went up a bit. When you consider the population, that's just bizarre.
"It's the same with the Garda station. I wrote to the Garda Commissioner about this, when you look at the allocation of gardaí, Gorey has a lower ratio than average. We know there are struggles with Garda retention, but I just won't accept we should be at a lower ratio than everywhere else, and that is further compounded if you factor in Courtown, Riverchapel Garda station. The ratio might have gone up a bit there, but it was something like 1 to 3,000. The national average is 1 Garda to 260-odd.
"What I'm trying to run on is a practical new way of thinking. One example is St Waleran's [a mooted housing development]. There are around 700 houses up there. It's so slow moving, and that's OK if it's for a reason, but I feel that with a lot of things in the council a question is asked in a meeting, and it's never followed up on, or communicated to people. That needs to change.
"The line on that at the moment is it's stuck in procurement, and what I'd like to know is if that's the case for two council meetings, what steps are we taking to move that along? Do we need to offer people overtime to get them working over weekends and get this done?
"Wexford County Council has spent a lot of money on external consultants. Why are we deploying that for 'nice to have' kind of projects when there are critical infrastructure projects that just aren't getting the same push? I think that's a balance as well.
"Projects like the Esmonde Street project and Market House project are great for developing the town, but I'm thinking, hold on, we have new people moving to the area, new housing estates, people like myself moving back. These people can't get a GP.
"It comes back to the 'nice to haves' which are great, but they're no good if you don't have the critical pieces like childcare, doctors, dentists, mental health facilities, Garda resources."
While many politicians have been out canvassing in the last few weeks, Mr McDonald has been visiting houses since he was selected as a candidate in November.
I think Gorey is being short-changed, and I can't figure out why.
"I've been out canvassing since last November when I was selected as a candidate, a lot of politicians have only gone out in the last couple of weeks. That's fair enough. I won't say experienced politicians are getting it wrong, but I think getting to as many issues as possible and educating myself is important.
"There's no point in me pontificating in the local paper about something random without having a good basis and having listened to a huge number of people already.
"I think communication on various issues is very frustrating. Funding was made available for a primary care centre in 2018. Where is that? 'It's delayed six months, here's why', that's as important as anything.
"I'll openly say Gorey is not getting the investment it should be. I don't think politicians are effective enough advocating the case at the moment.
A great canvass of the Tara Hill, Killmurray and Ballywilliam areas today. Thanks to all for the warm reception on a cold day! pic.twitter.com/O498z1IKlr
— Darragh McDonald (@Darragh_McD) January 6, 2024
"Maybe it'll be our turn for investment in five years. It's cyclical, 'New Ross' turn now' etc, that's not an answer to people needing facilities now.
"I met a woman in a rural area whose parents lived with her, and they can't get access to a GP so they're having to drive up and down to Dublin to access GP services. If there's one case like that, there's a hundred in a similar position.
"I think Gorey is being short-changed, and I can't figure out why."
I'm comfortable saying Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil haven't done enough for the disability services sector.
He added: "There are around 11,000 houses in the Gorey district, and I'd estimate I've been to a good number of them twice since I started canvassing. I will walk down a mucky farmyard, to suburban areas. That's a key that I wanted to do in doing this campaign right and I want to continue this as a politician.
"If somebody wants to shout me down, that has happened, I'm happy to take that, because the issue we have is you have politicians afraid to get the wider spectrum of how people feel.
"You need to be able to listen even if you don't like it, and in turn you hope people you are talking to will realise that and provide constructive criticism."
"I'm comfortable saying Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil haven't done enough for the disability services sector, I want them to do more," he said.
"You're not ostracised or thrown out of a party for having different opinions now.
"There's room for nuance, a variety of thoughts in parties."
