A FORMER WITCH is hoping to put a spell on voters next year and become the first Pagan TD in the Dáil.
However, Deirdre Wadding, who currently sits on Wexford County Council, insists that voters should forget her religious choices and instead focus on her political policies.
“I’m running as a radical left wing candidate and not as a Pagan,” she told TheJournal.ie
“My faith is a very personal matter to me in the same way that there are many TDs who hold the Christian faith.
“I want people to focus on my policies rather than my religious beliefs.”
Wadding first became a witch aged 18 and has since embraced the Pagan faith with a special focus on the religion’s tightly held principles of fairness and equality.
She also worked as a teacher before becoming a councillor for the People Before Profit Alliance.
“If elected, I want politics to be different,” she said.
“Personally, I believe that every person on this earth should be treated equally and right now that isn’t the case.
If I were given the opportunity, I would like to help implement policies to ensure a fairer society and a more equal world for everybody.
Speaking about her policies , the 53-year-old claims she will focus on taxing the country’s big earners.
“We need to enforce corporation tax and take appropriate tax from those who are earning most in society.
“I look at who is on the left in Ireland right now, I certainly don’t want us to enter an alliance with a pro-austerity party,” she added.
Speaking about the future, Wadding claims she would like to see her party enter a coalition with any left wing party – including Sinn Féin.
“I sit on Wexford county council with Sinn Féin members and other left leaning politicians and we work well together.
“Obviously there are certain red line issues that would need to be discussed but if we were able to emulate our local success on a national level then I believe we could work with Sinn Féin.”
The People Before Profit Alliance has yet to make an official statement on whether the group as part of the Right2Change movement would agree to a vote transfer deal with Sinn Féin.
Media reports earlier this week claimed that Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy had ruled out any such deal with Gerry Adams’ party after the idea for a left-wing vote transfer pact was put forward by Sinn Féin earlier this week.
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