General Election Interview: Marc Ó Cathasaigh, Green Party

Marc Ó Cathasaigh TD is running as a candidate for the Green Party in the General Election in Waterford. 

"The three things as I promised locally for Waterford, I delivered on. A politician who has kept his promises is a rare thing. I think we performed very well in terms of our wider Green Party agenda as well," he said, but noted that he believes the experience of being a TD will allow him to be a more effective representative if he has success at the polls on Friday. "I certainly think I'll be a better TD if I'm reelected."

Straight out of the classroom and into the Dáil, Ó Cathasaigh said, "Covid arrived literally a month after I was elected. When the Taoiseach came down the steps in Washington to cancel Paddy's Day, I literally didn't know where the canteen was!

"So this time I won't have the same steep learning curve. I know where the canteen is. I know how things get done within Leinster House. What I'll be hoping is, if we're a part of the next government [...] I'll put my hand up for a job because I think Waterford deserves representation at the highest level."

"In 2020, people really took a bet on the outsider," the candidate admitted, "I was inexperienced, I had been on council for eight months and I was still in the classroom. This time I'm an experienced politician, I've been a government whip for the past four and a half years."

He said the priority of the Green Party is to "be part of government. I think we've been very important in the make-up of this government. I'm strongly of the view that matters of climate, biodiversity, and nature are not going to be on the agenda unless the Green Party are part of the mix. I've studied the other parties manifestos, some are improving in terms of climate and biodiversity but there is a long way to run."

He says that the Green Party has been a consistent voice in government for climate issues and said, "anybody who wants us as a coalition partner has to live up to our ambitions in terms of balanced regional development. I think we're more serious about that than most other parties."

Ó Cathasaigh is a keen cyclist, his usual commute to the Dáil consists of putting his bike onto the train to Heuston Station. He says that the Green Party has done significant work to improve the affordability of public transport.

Despite the prices of all other forms of transport inflating, Ó Cathasaigh says his party has lowered bus and train fares.

"We've actually reduced bus fares by 20% across the country. For every young person or student, it has been reduced by 60%. I can travel up and down to Dublin on the train - which I regularly do - for far less than it will cost me on diesel or petrol." 

He says that the price reductions, such as the TFI 90-minute fare, have led to "an enormous 255% increase in the number of people who are travelling on a weekly basis on local links and across West Waterford in particular."

After he gets off the train at Heuston Station, Ó Cathasaigh cycles down the quays to Leinster House, where he parks his bike. It's for this reason that he was one of the signatories who asked for the now infamous Oireachtas bike shelter.

"I was one of the signatories who asked for the bike shelter, which, by the way, is in the wrong place. I was one of the signatories on the letter that said 'Could we please have some place to park our bikes where they don't get wet?' The letter at no point mentions 'Could it cost the same cost as a semi-D out on the Dunmore Road?'"

"It is bananas that we spent €325,000 on the bus shelter. We had the Office of Public Works before the Public Accounts Committee very recently, and there was a robust exchange of views around the issue of the bike shed, the security hut - which was an insane amount of money, and the delivery of modular accommodation to provide for Ukrainians. Each of those modular units comes in at €442,000, which again, is absolutely insane." 

"I knock on doors and people hold me responsible for the decisions that I make," he said, adding that the people behind the bike shed, "don't knock on anybody's doors. They don't hang posters. It's critical that if we ask for taxpayers' money, we make sure that we get value for money because there's nothing that annoys people more than paying tax but not getting the services."

"Yes, I wanted a bike shelter, but you know, a corrugated plastic roof and someplace where my bike wasn't getting wet would have done me absolutely fine."

Asked what he spends his money on outside of politics, Ó Cathasaigh admitted that he plays into the stereotype for environmentally conscious candidates, "It's on brand, Green Party guy likes spending money on bikes."

"I have six bicycles and only one arse," laughs Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, "the thing I enjoy spending my money on the most is probably bikes. Second, after that would be instruments. I'm a guitar player, but I play other instruments as well. I have three guitars but there's always room for a couple more!"