Interview: Conor McGuinness

In the 2020 General Election, Sinn Féin made the mistake of only running one candidate in the Waterford constituency when their nearly 40% vote share could have elected two candidates on first preferences votes alone. The party is not making the same mistake this time around. 

In addition to sitting TD David Cullinane, Sinn Féin is running Councillor Conor McGuinness in the General Election. McGuinness is positioning himself as a candidate for Dungarvan and West Waterford, the area he represents as a councillor.

He characterises himself as a "strong, proven advocate for West Waterford" and says that he has "stood up for the county, for rural communities, and Dungarvan." 

He says he "knows the issues and has never been shy about standing up for the area that [he] is so proud to represent."

McGuinness believes the west of the county has been "maligned and neglected" but does he think that the existing set of TDs have failed his area? He said that for the last 10 years, all of Waterford's TDs have "been very clearly based in the east of the county, in and around Waterford City. That, in my opinion," he says, "is a clear imbalance."

He does admit that the sitting representatives have not ignored the West of the county. "They will answer the phone to people in West Waterford and I'm sure they will do their best for people that do call them, but there is a difference."

"When you live in an area, when you work hard in an area, when you're across the issues, and, to be perfectly honest, when you're democratically accountable to the residents of a particular area, that is your focus. That is what we have lost."

Running alongside the party spokesperson for Health, Deputy David Cullinane, McGuinness said: "David and I have a fantastic relationship."

"We're friends as well as comrades and colleagues and we work very closely together. I could not have a better running mate," he said.

"You hear all sorts of political drama stories all the time about running mates and that, but David has been so supportive and I'm very lucky," McGuinness praised his running mate who he characterised as the "best-placed person to be a minister for Waterford".

"To get him that role we need to have a very strong election performance here. And, I'm being honest with you here, on the door I'm hearing that people want change - they want a different government."

Like most people, the Sinn Fein candidate says that the biggest issue at the moment is housing.

"Housing needs to be addressed," he said, noting that, "over the past 14 years the housing crisis has become systematically worse."

"My priority is getting houses built in Waterford city and county. There hasn't been a single affordable house delivered, nor is there one presently under construction, outside the city - not in the whole of county Waterford, there isn't one!"

Again, McGuinness comes back to the west of the county where houses are "priced so far beyond the reach of ordinary people, particularly young families from the localities who wish to live there and raise their own families."

WATCH: FULL INTERVIEW HERE