Meet Mayo’s seven First Independent candidates

Meet the seven First Independent candidates

Liam Alex Heffron
Moygownagh
Liam Heffron is an award winning entrepreneur and currently an actor and filmmaker and is son of well-known community activist and one time DΡil candidate Billy Heffron.
“I’ve seen with dismay the way Irish people have been trampled upon,” he said and was critical of the ‘stripping away of democracy at local level’, citing the abolition of the town councils as an example of this.

Peter Jordan
Ballina
Having lost control of his Ballina pub and restaurant in the recession, Peter Jordan is aware of how difficult it is for small, family business. He cites ‘red tape’ and ‘high labour costs’ as some issues.
He says ‘rural Ireland is dying on its feet’ and argues ‘to keep voting for the same parties and expect different results is one sure sign of madness’.

Stephen Manning
Ballyhaunis
Publisher Stephen Manning is the Administrator of the Integrity Ireland Association, a group ‘set up to tackle corruption, cronyism and cover ups in Irish institutions’, especially law enforcement, the legal profession and the courts.
He says that despite the fact that there are ‘many decent people’ working in government and institutions of the state, ‘ over a period of time most of these institutions have become utterly compromised and even I go as far to say, in many cases, corrupted’.

Richie O’Donnell
Inver
A filmmaker based in Mayo and Galway, one of O’Donnell’s best known projects was ‘The Pipe’, a multi-award winning documentary which examined the Corrib gas issue in the Erris region. A holder of two degrees, O’Donnell says his education really began when following the Corrib controversy. He describes it as ‘a failure of politics’, where ‘politicians turned their back on the people’ and there was ‘a lack of political courage’.

George O’Malley
Newport
George O’Malley is a teacher at secondary and third levels and has experience across Europe in the areas of forestry, natural resources, environment, sustainability, community and rural and SME development.
“I’ve thrown my hat in the ring in the hope the people of Mayo do not lose faith. If I am on the ticket this county will never see a campaign like it.”

Dermot Rice
Ballina
Formerly a media advertising manager and now a technical recruiting manager, Dermot Rice argues ‘I honestly feel the people have no representation from public representatives in this constituency’ and describes the First Independent Mayo process as ‘the best thing to happen Mayo and Irish democracy in my lifetime’. He cited problems such as healthcare, rural school closures, emigration and a justice system ‘not fit for purpose’ as major issues.

Dualta Roughneen
Kiltimagh
An emergencies/disaster risk management coordinator with Plan Ireland, Dualta Roughneen could not be at the launch as he was helping with the relief effort in Nepal.  
He has put his name forward mainly due to his belief that ‘politics and representation in Ireland has been reduced from a strong democratic process to a procedural approach that no longer represents a genuine democracy’.