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Fintan Warfield via Youtube

New mayor of South Dublin says he's proud to be 'an openly LGBT mayor'

Fintan Warfield said he wants to be a beacon of hope for those in the community who feel invisible.

THE NEWLY ELECTED mayor of South County Dublin, Sinn Féin councillor Fintan Warfield, has said he takes personal pride in being the youngest mayor of a local authority in the country and in being “an openly LGBT mayor”.

After being  elected mayor this afternoon, 22-year-old Warfield, who is a relation of Wolfe Tones musician Derek Warfield, gave his maiden speech in the chamber. He said that if, in twelve months’ time, he can look back on his term and honestly say he took his role into the homes, communities and work places of the people he represents, he will be “a proud republican activist”.

Warfield said he wants to be “a voice for those who have been left out or left behind”, campaigning for change, for inclusion and for equality.

He set out his three main priorities for the year, which are as follows:

  • To highlight the ongoing housing and homeless crisis in the county;
  • To promote LGBT rights and in particular marriage equality and inclusive workplaces across the county;
  • To promote practical solutions to the youth unemployment crisis.

A beacon of hope

The Sinn Féin councillor, who has been active in the campaign for LGBT equality in the community, said he believes the office of mayor should be “a beacon of hope for those who feel invisible”.

“I believe that Dublin should be a place for everyone,” he said. “As mayor I want to make the connection with those people who do feel invisible.”

Maybe it’s the girl with the funny name or unusual accent. Maybe it’s the boy who wants to wear make up in school. Maybe it’s the single mother struggling to make ends meet. Maybe it’s the unemployed man ashamed that he can’t put food on the table. Maybe it’s the older person who goes to the Square to keep warm or whom no one has visited in weeks. These are the people who I as mayor want to stand with.

“Many within the LGBT community feel that Dublin, at times is not a place for them.,” he continued. “Homophobia has pushed people into the corners of their lives, lives of isolation and poor self-image.”

He spoke of the upcoming referendum as an opportunity for our society to say that it values all relationships.

“As mayor I will work closely with those individuals and groups who want to make our society a fairer, more equal place,” he said

Read: Christy Burke elected as Dublin’s Lord Mayor>

Read: “I could tell there was carnage going on”: Being voted out of office when you’re mayor is pretty disappointing…>

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213 Comments
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    Mute Neil
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    Sep 1st 2015, 11:49 AM

    Call it what you like, it’ll still be the same old dinosaur with the same terrible attitude to competition and customers alike.

    354
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    Mute Sean Byrne
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    Sep 1st 2015, 11:53 AM

    10yrs with sky. 1 phone call to customer care. 6mths with Eircom, over 25 calls and 10 different engineers have called to the house. Most are from companies where the work has been sub contracted to them. All are as useless as the last. Sorry I ever left sky.

    222
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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Sep 1st 2015, 11:58 AM

    The best those over paid Gob**ites can come up with is a rebrand !! Huw about not leaving your customers hanging on the line for 2hrs when they ring up to report a fault !!!

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    Mute Enda Ireland
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:39 PM

    Messed about by so call customer care, Moved to UPC 1 year ago no issues.

    86
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    Mute Wynnner
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    Sep 1st 2015, 2:07 PM

    It’s alright if your able to get upc , but not all of Ireland is covered.

    52
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    Mute Margaret Daly
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    Sep 1st 2015, 2:28 PM

    just wait till you try to cancel. atrocious service. look at the Twitter

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    Mute Richard Carroll
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:04 PM

    Eircom are a joke. Two complaints to Comreg regarding there shabby broadband. Moved to SKY and no problems with my broadband since. People are sick to the back teeth of companies like Eircom with their half price offers for their half baked services.

    133
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    Mute Paudi Onail
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:26 PM

    the ‘Only’ ‘Free’ ‘Just’ services. be sick of them. nothing is just, only, free. its all crap.

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    Mute THE BIG LAD
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:04 PM

    look rebranding wont change anything bar the name…in general “if it looks like sh!t smells like sh!t its usually sh!t”

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    Mute .
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:07 PM

    The telecoms regulator seems pretty useless and overwhelmed by everything
    They need to take firm action again Eircom when they mess their customers around
    Only way to change the Eircom culture

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    Mute A.C
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:35 PM

    left sky a few years ago to join eircom. what a mistake. rejoined sky again recently. Eircoms customer service was brutal. No manners, unprofessional and didn’t give a toss. sky might be more expensive but the quality is second to none. Never again using eircom

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    Mute James Stratford
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:18 PM

    You can put a fairy on it and cover it in lights, but it’s still a tree.

    51
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    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:16 PM

    I’m sure it will be a suitably shite branding effort by a bad marketing team that will waste money, pat themselves on the back and push the company further into the debt.

    The creation of eMobile to differentiate it from Meteors downmarket image had to be the worse, least creative, no clear message, creation of a brand that just wasted masses of cash…

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    Mute Mike Johnston
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:27 PM

    Sooo glad to be away from eircom. Ever since I’d been with them there’s been nothing but problems.

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    Mute colin
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:09 PM

    A turd in a tuxedo is still a turd.

    35
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    Mute Eddie Byrne
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:50 PM

    One of the worst companies i ve ever dealth with.

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    Mute Seamus Banna
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:37 PM

    The area where my parents live was supposed to get efiber in January, then June, then July, now September! They throttled the line into the exchange and did sod all about another exchange even though they knew there was a problem. Sky were more than helpful in trying to sort out speed issues but couldn’t do that much because Eircom ultimately run the lines. The biggest holdup to top rate broadband in this country is Eircom who have held us back by years. If you live in a big city or town you are sorted, the rest of the country doesn’t matter in Eircoms eyes.

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    Mute Simon Cunnane
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:05 PM

    I will be rebranding my anger and disdain in response.

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    Mute neuromancer
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    Sep 1st 2015, 2:10 PM

    Any telecoms company that offers a service that runs 24 hours a day, ie. Broadband, should have a 24hour customer care line, with people who can speak clear English.

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    Mute Brian J Cowan
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:10 PM

    All operators resell Eircom lines, so it all comes back in the end

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    Mute Seamus Banna
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:30 PM

    Sky use BT Ireland to provide their service but in the end its Eircom who service the call.

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    Mute John Donnelly
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:59 PM

    No matter what you call it, it’s still the same shite, never have and never will use eircon

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    Mute Lennie
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    Sep 1st 2015, 12:36 PM

    Eir is the new brand name.

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    Mute Liam O'Brien
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    Sep 2nd 2015, 7:05 AM

    Lennie – surely it couldn’t be that corny?? Eir?

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    Mute Paudi Onail
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    Sep 1st 2015, 1:22 PM

    has nobody told them that people read the small print now? how can people come out of a recession with their wages still cut in s*** and ye expect us to pay your overpriced ripoff service? i mean €80 for 2 months tv/broadband, thats insane. change your name, do what ye like, your marketing people are deluded if they think a name change can change peoples will to spend what they don’t have.

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    Mute Shanti
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    Sep 1st 2015, 8:29 PM

    Their marketing departments have always been deluded, you see what passes for advertising or customer promotions with those guys? They think this stuff is dynamite.. Only a deluded person could ever think that.

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    Mute Finbar Redmond
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    Sep 1st 2015, 3:23 PM

    Answer then better to improve there broadband services rather than pay millions on new logo .Ask some them engineers we can’t understand when we ring with problem to give it a new name then no one will know who to blame then because no can every make out there saying.

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    Mute Damien
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    Sep 2nd 2015, 12:22 AM

    Are you sure it’s not the customer service people that can’t understand what YOU’RE saying?

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    Mute Damien
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    Sep 2nd 2015, 12:21 AM

    The government needs to step in and separate Eircom the service provider from Eircom the engineering and line installers. They can’t be trusted to install lines and do service calls for other operators, they’ve been shown to give priority to their own customers first. There needs to be a completely independent engineer company that can handle service call outs and line installs for all the operators without giving priority or just being flat out sh!t

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    Mute Bryan Conlon
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    Sep 2nd 2015, 8:38 PM

    Changing the brand won’t make a fig of a difference. A brand change is not a magic wand. You’ve got to fix the problems first, then when you’re beginning to operate properly you can begin to think about a brand change.

    Eircom have many issues to sort out. The company should be ashamed of itself that it allowed the company to sink so low. Very very bad management obviously.

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