Ciarán Lynch TD

Welcome from Ciarán Lynch TD Spokesperson on Housing and Local Government

Regaining the seat in Cork South Central held previously by Labour's Toddy O'Sullivan, the constituency's new deputy Ciarán Lynch is also one of Labour's new faces around the Parliamentary Labour Party.

He is brother-in-law to one of Labour's other Cork representatives Kathleen Lynch TD and brother to Cork City Council representative Councillor Catherine Clancy.

The fact they are active in politics is testament to the fact that politics was an integral part of family life.

"Both my parents were involved in the community we grew up in. Ballyphehane is a very good model and example of social housing and community development. Some of the reasons why it has been so successful is not just to down to the fact of bricks and mortar and the design of the houses was of good quality. It is also because there is very strong sense of community spirit in the area which arises from an established tradition of community and voluntary work which continues to this very day.

"One example of this is reflected in the fact that Ballyphehane Credit Union is one of the largest and most successful in the country. I am particularly proud of the fact that Ballyphehane parish recently celebrated its Jubilee anniversary and I am the first TD to be elected from the parish.

"Even though I have lived in Douglas for many years now I have maintained my strong links with the parish. Being the first house on Connolly Road with Connolly's nameplate on the side wall of our family home it was probably no surprise I would eventually be a member of the Labour Party."

Having left school in his teens Ciarán first trained to be a chef and worked in the catering industry for a number of years before going back to college as a mature student to study education management and social studies and graduating from both UCC and WIT. Since then he has worked as an Adult Literacy Organiser for Cork VEC.

He first stood for public office in the 1999 Local Election securing five per cent of the first preference votes. He ran again in 2004 and was elected on the first count with 17 per cent of the first preference votes. His first outing for a Dáil seat saw him taking the fourth seat upon reaching the quota for Cork South Central, despite the general thinking in some media quarters that while he would perform well he wouldn't take the seat. However this never dented Ciarán's Dáil bid and he tirelessly continued with his campaign.

"The focus of my campaign was getting out and playing our own game; no one is going to give you the ball and you have got to get it yourself. The General Election campaign began back in November 2005. We ran a long consistent campaign with a clear strategy which was to meet as many people as possible, identify the issues in communities and work on them.

"During that time I was also elected as the first chairperson of the Southern Regional Health Forum, once again that was to outside observers unexpected."

While he may be giving up his council seat, Ciarán feels the issues that make an impact in Cork will be well represented by him.

He explained: "There certainly is an intimacy to Local Government which has a different type of engagement to it. The rules are different, because you don't have nominated spokespeople so you can comment on more.

"There have been many issues before the Dáil which are of great concern to my constituents such as the Roads Bill which highlights the whole absence of joined-up planning between National Government, Local Authorities and the National Roads Authority. This has become very evident as the City and County Development Plans come up again for review and implementation by 2009."

For Ciarán sustainable development is very important.

"In suburban areas of the city such as Douglas, Rochestown and Lehenaghamore along with major satellite towns such as Carrigaline for decades now we have been witnessing housing estate after housing estate being built on what are effectively country boreens.

"The obvious problem of this uncoordinated planning is the lack of infrastructure and the subsequent drop in the quality of people's lives, even the day to day tasks such as getting to work and back or dropping the kids to school have become stressful tasks in themselves.

"We have new first time buyers where getting onto the property ladder is becoming more and more difficult and almost beyond their grasp to buy a new home unless through the affordable housing scheme.

"Today I find there is a new generation of young people who grew up in households where quite naturally saw their parents meeting the challenge of paying a mortgage and who like the generation before believed that by going out to work, getting a decent job and with a certain degree of effort they could manage to buy a home. The reality is that under the present government this is something which is becoming increasingly difficult and almost a thing of the past.

"Ten years ago the purchase value of a standard house was approximately two and a half times the average national wage now it can be anything from nine to 12 times this sum. The pressure that this creates means it is almost impossible to buy a home on ones own and in most cases it means that both partners need to work just to serve the monthly mortgage. "

Planning is one area that Ciarán plans to highlight during his term of office.

He explains why: "We either plan in a way that meets the needs of hardworking families and their communities or we continue to plan in the piece-meal fashion that suits the developers. Ireland today is a very wealthy country yet our approach to local and sustainable development leaves a lot to be desired. What we have is a lot of planning applications and plans for rezoning with very little joined up thinking between the responsible agencies."

Looking to the future Ciarán says, "We live in a very rapidly changing world not just nationally and internationally but also at a very local level as well. For example many of the houses estates I visited during the recent election campaign where country fields five years ago. The profiles of the families who live in these new homes now reflect a more diverse and changing Ireland. This of course comes with its own challenges and many positive opportunities. I believe that the key to planning for a positive future is one in which we can visibly see in real terms the wealth of our country. With this approach we front end the planning process with infrastructural needs that come with the need for ongoing development.