At Monday night’s Candidates Debate on Galway Bay FM, moderator John Morley asked Sheila Garrity if she was qualified to run as she has never served in public office previously.
Garrity, an independent candidate in the Galway West by-election, was quick to respond that she has two decades of working behind the scenes politically, and that she brings a wealth of experience in education, research, and leading large projects.
“I’ve worked at national and international levels, on advisory panels here in Ireland, to a minister of education in Canada, to the Norwegian government,” she said. “When I went back to education to obtain my PhD, I was raising five children, working full time, and also running a small business. I listen, reflect, work hard, and achieve results. And I will do that for the people of Galway West.”
Reflecting post-debate on the four weeks of the formal campaign and her previous eight weeks of community meetings and early canvassing, Garrity noted that the prevailing sentiment from the residents she has talked to is that nothing is working well, and that so much of the systems and services we rely on are dysfunctional.
She said the current government, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry Independents seem to have accepted that a certain amount of human misery is the price to be paid for their political ideology.
“I don’t accept that has to be the way,” she said “I may not be an experienced politician, but I am very experienced and capable. When I look across the pool of candidates, I see many who are experienced, who are currently in office at local or national levels, or representing parties that are or were in government. Now they are promising that they are going to deliver – why should voters of Galway West believe them now? Over the years they have offered empty rhetoric, broken promises, misleading statements on how they are going to make a difference.”
Garrity lamented the devastating consequences of such inexcusable leadership.
“People are priced out of homes or unable to get planning permission, they are sitting in gridlock traffic, waiting on disappearing buses, or cycling on crowded spaces,” she said. “Simple issues like our footpaths, that they are unsafe for our elders and for parents of young children, have been raised again and again. Many of our pensioners are living in cold, damp homes, due to increasing fuel costs. Our disabled community are living in state-created poverty. Who is responsible for this?
“Our children have a right to be educated, and to be supported and accommodated in our schools, yet parents are fighting for places in schools, for special-education support or a place in a special class. Children are on years-long waiting lists for health care, therapies, and mental health services. And this is at a time when we are told we are a very wealthy country. Who is being served by all this wealth? Not the people I am talking to at the doors of this constituency.”
Garrity believes the country needs fresh ideas and creative solutions to its problems.
“So I am asking you to Vote #1 Sheila Garrity – to trust me and to give me a chance.”
