Eoin Ó Broin Sinn Féin Dáil challenger to Paul Gogarty, Mary Harney and Chief Whip

Eoin Ó Broin – A new voice

AN PHOBLACHT columnist, author and Sinn Féin activist Eoin Ó Broin has been unanimously selected as the Sinn Féin general election candidate for Dublin Mid-West.

The sitting TDs are former Progressive Democrats leader and now Health Minister Mary Harney, controversial Green Party TD Paul Gogarty and Fianna Fáil Government Chief Whip John Curran, who has been in the forefront of defending the Government's disastrous economic policies and the bank bail-outs.

Eoin, who lives in Clondalkin Village and works for a national housing charity, was nominated by local Sinn Féin Councillor Matthew McDonagh.

Eoin Ó Broin told the election convention:

Sinn Féin is the only party offering a real social and economic alternative to both the failed policies of the Fianna Fail/Green Party Government and the pro-cuts agenda of Labour and Fine Gael.

Our party has detailed costed proposals on job creation and tax reform. We are opposed to the Government proposal and opposition acceptance of cutting €3billion from public expenditure in this December’s Budget. As with the previous Budgets, these cuts will lead to a further contraction of the economy and more loss of jobs.

In November, we will be launching our own Budget Alternative, arguing for a stimulus package to create jobs and help hard-pressed working families.

Speaking about the election contest in Dublin Mid-West, Eoin Ó Broin said:

Sinn Féin has a real chance of winning a Dáil seat in Dublin Mid-West. The three sitting government TDs are all vulnerable, having blindly supported policies which have led to 450,000 people on the dole, billions of euro wasted on Anglo Irish Bank, and public services unable to meet the needs of local communities.

People want change. They want real policies that can generate employment, prosperity and equality for all. Neither this government nor the Fine Gael/Labour opposition can provide that alternative, wedded as they are to the failed economic consensus that caused the recession.

Sinn Féin is the only real alternative, working hard on the ground and with radical and credible policy solutions to the problems the country is currently facing.

Biography

Eoin is a member of Lucan Sinn Féin and lives in Clondalkin Village. He is a member of Sinn Fein's ruling Ard Chomhairle, writes a regular column for the party's paper, An Phoblacht, and is involved in the development of the party’s European, economic and housing policies.

A Sinn Féin activist for 15 years. Born in Dublin he lived in Belfast for 11 years where he was National Organiser for Sinn Féin Youth from 1997 to 1999; elected to Belfast City Council in 2001; and Sinn Féin’s Director of European Affairs from 2004 to 2007. Eoin was also the director of the party’s campaigns against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 and 2009.

Eoin has a Masters Degree in Irish Politics from Queens University Belfast and currently works for a national housing charity. He is also the author of two books, a history of the conflict in the Basque Country (2003), and Sinn Féin and the Politics of Left Republicanism (2009). He is currently working on a third, A Better Ireland - Arguments for a New Republic, which will be published next year by Pluto Press.