Monday night saw a packed room and lively meeting take place in the Coach House Inn as the People Before Profit (PBP) candidate Cinnamon Blackmore was officially launched as the by-election candidate. PBP TD Bríd Smith addressed the room. She endorsed Ms. Blackmore as a “fantastic candidate that is around and active all year long not just at elections”. Deputy Smith added that “Cinnamon is not another careerist politician; she’s an activist and a socialist. As a family carer she has seen firsthand the affects the cuts from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have had on the people in Wexford. It’s time more people like Cinnamon stood up to challenge a politics that has failed so many of us. I look forward to working alongside Cinnamon in the Dáil and would encourage everyone to vote her number 1 to elect a rebel to the Dáil to fill Mick Wallace’s vacant seat.”

Ms. Blackmore spoke at length about the health crisis, she was at the fore of the campaign to save Wexford’s children’s mental health services (CAMHS), and she said “our children aren’t falling through the cracks anymore – they are being shoved. I have had enough we can do things differently and don’t have to accept this. The lack of spaces for our children to attend second level schooling is something I will continue to campaign on. We are one of the richest countries in the OECD yet the government won’t spend on our children’s futures – but they will give themselves a nice pay rise.”

Ms. Blackmore also praised Deputy Smith for her ‘Keep it in the Ground’ bill which seeks to stop the exploration of all fossil fuels. She added that “People Before Profit are fighting for system change not climate change. We are the only party willing to tackle the fossil fuel industry and fight to put the planet before profit”.

Discussion on the escalating housing crisis also took place with Ms. Blackmore calling out the government for not building one council house in Wexford in 10 years. She said PBP want to open the vacant homes, cap rents and build public homes on public land.