Driven candidate in it for the long haul

SPARE a thought for a candidate who gets up a 6am six days a week to drive 310km to and from work who then has to trudge out into the night to knock on doors.

Nevertheless, schoolteacher Pádraig O’Sullivan seems unfazed with the burdensome workload as the Independent tries to get elected to Cork North Central.

Pádraig, who lives in Little Island, teaches Irish and history at Cistercian College, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and because it’s a full-time boarding school he has to work six days a week.

He spends more than three-and-a-half hours driving to and from the college, which educated some notable politicians over the years, including Dick Spring, Brian Cowen, David Andrews and Jim Glennon.

The 26-year-old teacher was educated in Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire, before going to UCC where he completed a BA in history and geography followed by a postgraduate MA in politics.

He later taught in Coláiste an Phiarsaigh and Glanmire Community College before taking up an appointment in Roscrea.

Pádraig is also well known in soccer circles and was a prominent member of Leeside AFC which won the Munster Junior Cup in 2008.

“Ultimately, my intention is to provide representation for young people in our constituency. I have witnessed first-hand the lack of opportunity, increased fees, cutbacks in services, and the lack of jobs and facilities locally,” Pádraig said.

“Yet instead of creating opportunities for our youth this government and the other major parties seem to encourage the mass exodus of Ireland’s best and brightest to the extent where emigration is seemingly pursued as policy.”

He said it was imperative that young people get more interested in politics.

“Until that happens young people will continue to be the victims of this administration, and will continue to see what little entitlements they have eroded away by cut after cut,” Pádraig said.

He said the forthcoming election is perhaps the most important in the state’s history and claimed the established parties have shown they can’t provide effective governance.

“The people of Cork North Central need an Independent candidate who will speak his mind, represent the constituents of this great city, and ultimately provide decisive, effective leadership,” he said.