First-time candidate keen to offer people of Carlow-Kilkenny an alternative voice
'I don’t believe there is an urgency with the current government to fix these problems'
Patricia Stephenson is a fresh face in Kilkenny politics, hoping to secure a first-ever seat for the Social Democrats in Carlow-Kilkenny.
The new candidate lives with her partner in Coollcullen, between Old Leighlin and Castlecomer, where the couple have renovated an old parish hall.
Originally from Belfast, Ms Stephenson moved here a few years ago after six years working in East Africa in the aid/humanitarian sector, before her return to Ireland. Her aunt and uncle live close to ‘Comer, where she visited a lot as a child. She has been a member of the Social Democrats for about three and a half years, with a strong family pedigree in politics; her late father was a former councillor and chair of the SDLP.
When she moved back to Ireland, she noticed the extent to which people were struggling with the basics, such as people finding it hard to get a GP, other services, and the housing crisis. These are among her motivations to put her name forward to contest the upcoming election.
“The reason I’m running is I don’t believe there is an urgency with the current government to fix these problems,” she says.
“I know they use the rhetoric of urgency, but I don’t think that is actually being demonstrated in a lot of the policies. And we’re still here then, five years later, with a similar makeup of challenges to the country, some even more extreme.
“I’m frustrated and I want to channel that into something positive. I know that I am not alone in those feelings. I’ve met people over the last four weeks — they are disappointed, disillusioned and disenfranchised. I want to offer those people an alternative voice, some sort of change they can vote for in this election.”
A wide variety of issues are coming up on the doorsteps, but the main one will be no surprise to anyone. “Housing is always going to be a massive one, for all different types of people,” Ms Stephenson says. “Even people who have a mortgage, or even have their mortgage paid off — they are concerned, older people concerned about their grandchildren having to move away. We meet a lot of adult children living in their childhood bedroom homes.
“Of course, we meet lots of people renting who are genuinely struggling with this 50% increase since Covid. We meet a lot of people who have experienced homelessness or are the hidden homeless — they can’t find anywhere. Loads of people who have got good jobs but can’t actually find anywhere to rent.”
Her party wants to see a major increase in social housing construction: “We’d like to see 800 social homes being built in Kilkenny, 1300 in Carlow to reflect the needs of the people that are on the social housing list,” she says.
“When you build those homes, it obviously alleviates a lot of pressure in the rental sector as well. We’d also like to see rent caps introduced, and land being properly zoned for rent so we don’t have this ever-increasing challenge with rent going up and up and up.”