VOTERS IN DUBLIN Mid-West might think they’re seeing double when they open their ballot paper on 29 November.
Two candidates with the same name – and similar taste in snazzy spectacles – are standing in the five-seat constituency.
There’s Sinn Féin’s high profile housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin – and there’s Independent-turned-Social Democrats councillor for Clondalkin Eoin Ó Broin.
Sinn Féin’s Ó Broin, on his second canvas of the day at teatime on Tuesday in freezing conditions, is taking no chances: every prospective Sinn Féin voter is warned about the Other Eoin.
“Don’t forget, there will be a second Eoin Ó Broin on the ballot,” he explains to one older voter in an estate on the outskirts of Clondalkin village.
“Is he with…?” the woman trails off, seemingly confused.
“He’s with the Social Democrats. The way it will be on the ballot, my name will be first with my face and the logo. Just follow the face and the logo.”
The two men know each other. They both live in this area – they’ve even received each other’s post.
Sinn Féin’s Ó Broin first became aware of his fellow Eoin 20 years ago when, at a conference in Canada, the person introducing him included details in his potted biography seemingly found online in relation to another Eoin Ó Broin, then president of the University of Limerick students’ union.
The two met a couple of years later, when Ó Broin (of Sinn Féin) joined a Shell to Sea protest, alighting a bus in Ballinaboy to see “this fella looking at me”.
“And I’m look at him, and I’m going: ‘Are you Eoin Ó Broin?’ And he goes: ‘Are you Eoin Ó Broin’? So we had a big chat.”
The Social Democrats’ Eoin is a fluent Irish speaker, having attended Irish-medium schools in Clondalkin; there is a large Irish-speaking community in the area, associated with the longstanding Áras Chrónáin cultural centre. Sinn Féin’s Eoin doesn’t speak Irish, but the Irish language surname is on his birth cert; his father attended a Gaelscoil.
A few streets away, earlier that day, the Soc Dems’ Eoin Ó Broin doesn’t let the freezing rain stop him from going door to door. Like his fellow Eoin, he’s out twice a day as the election approaches.
His biggest pitch to voters, apart from his own track record as a councillor (he got the council to fix a footpath in this particular estate), is his party’s commitment to Sláintecare – the plan to reform healthcare to end the current two-tier system, a policy with which Social Democrats founder Róisín Shortall has been particularly associated.
He believes small parties need to be strategic, and the Social Democrats can position themselves as authoritatively on universal access to healthcare as his namesake has managed to do on housing.
He adds that he believes Sláintecare would be “transformative” not only for healthcare but for citizens’ relationship with society and the state in Ireland.
“I’ve seen a one-tier health system in Sweden, when I lived there. I didn’t need health insurance, and a trip to the doctor was a tenner,” the Soc Dems’ Ó Broin says.
“It gives everybody a sense that they’re getting something back. They don’t have this unfortunate bitterness which exists [among] those who are above thresholds.”
He believes the Irish system of means-tested thresholds for medical cards is a “Victorian charity” approach, whereas universal access would be “a game changer we need in Ireland for people to feel that we’re all in this together.”
The Soc Dems’ Ó Broin completed a PhD in energy systems modelling in Sweden, before undertaking postdoctoral research in France. With his background in environmental science, he was a member of the Green movement when he lived in Sweden, but he believes the Green Party do not sufficiently prioritise housing and workers’ rights.
In the estate he’s canvassing today, he meets some voters who say he’ll get their number one, and a few undecideds.
Do people bring up the name much?
“Yeah. Some people say, ‘this will be fun’. Some people say, ‘that’s confusing, you should change your name’.”
He is not impressed by this suggestion.
“You know, you don’t just change your name. I grew up in Clondalkin, I went to the all-Irish school here, so because I grew up here and it is my name, why should I change?” the Soc Dems candidate says.
(Although Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin has been living in Clondalkin for many years with his partner, Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, he is originally from Cabinteely and went to school in Blackrock. A blow-in Ó Broin, if you will.)
Housing, waiting times for healthcare and access to supports for those with disabilities and additional needs are among the top issues that come up on the doorsteps in Clondalkin. Access to school places is also a big issue in this area, where public services do not seem to have kept pace with population growth.
Both Eoin Ó Broins say the heat has somewhat gone out of the issue of immigration, relative to the local elections in June; this mirrors what The Journal heard from other constituencies.
However, immigration is definitely still on the agenda, and it’s raised a few times with Sinn Féin’s Ó Broin.
He pushes back hard against the idea that immigrants are being prioritised on the housing list, as one Sinn Féin voter alleges, telling the man that that “every single one of those families” waited on the list for the same length of time as Irish families.
“The only people who get council houses are people who have a legal right to reside and work with the state,” he says.
However at another house (also voting Sinn Féin) he criticises the government for not consulting with the local community on a nearby accommodation centre for people seeking international protection.
He tells a couple who say they’re concerned about the safety of women in the area that “a lot of concerns that you have, which are genuine concerns, can be addressed” through immigration being “properly managed”.
“It’s the fear of not knowing what’s going on in your own community, and that’s why, for me, community engagement and consultation is key, right? People are gonna come, right? You can’t stop people coming, but what you have to make sure is when people arrive to claim international protection, there’s a proper process,” Ó Broin tells them.
It is understood there have not been any incidents affecting the safety of local residents involving residents of this accommodation centre.
Sinn Féin’s immigration manifesto, launched last week, promises to take the provision of accommodation for international protection applicants into complete state control, and pledges that new purpose built centres will not be located in deprived communities.
Sinn Féin’s Ó Broin explains that to protect “community cohesion”, good quality accommodation has to provided in communities that “have capacity”, not in those that have been marginalised, and which are struggling already with a lack of basic infrastructure. He says these areas are identifiable using the deprivation index produced by Pobal, the state’s social inclusion agency.
By that metric, would areas in this constituency be suitable for new centres – in, say, Lucan, much of which is classified as “affluent” or “very affluent” by Pobal?
Ó Broin seems to accept this could indeed by the case, telling The Journal that “the definition of ‘deprived’ is objective, and it has to be”, and adding that “large parts of Dublin city” would be deemed suitable for new centres under Sinn Féin’s plan.
However, he adds that Sinn Féin would additionally require audits of local services to check whether there are enough school places and GP places before new accommodation for international protection applicants is approved.
It sounds like you could rule out almost every area of Dublin with those additional criteria?
“No, I don’t believe that,” Ó Broin says, reiteriating that he “absolutely” believes there are areas of Dublin that would right now be suitable for new asylum accommodation.
He adds that while he advocates for more community consultation, he does not believe anyone should get a “veto” in the same way that nobody gets to veto Irish people moving into their area.
“It’s about respect. It’s about engagement. It’s about talking to people, letting people know what the plan is,” he says.
Sinn Féin wants to lead Ireland’s first left-wing government after the election, so if it gets enough seats there’s no doubt Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns will be getting a call from her counterpart, Mary Lou McDonald. For her part, Cairns has indicated she hasn’t ruled out taking that call and talking to Sinn Féin.
What do the two Eoin Ó Broins think are the biggest points of difference between their parties?
Sinn Féin’s Ó Broin says: “Sinn Fein is the only political party that can lead an alternative government of change. So if people want a change of government, they really need to think wisely as to where they give that vote.”
He adds that there are “significant policy differences” between the two parties; the examples he gives are USC (Sinn Féin wants to reduce this tax and the Social Democrats don’t) and the fact that a united Ireland is a “key part of [Sinn Féin's] agenda”.
He acknowledges that on healthcare and childcare the two parties’ policies “chime”, but claims Sinn Féin’s housing and other policies are more comprehensive.
The other Eoin Ó Broin says the Social Democrats are a “coherent, centre-left party in an international left-wing tradition, whereas Sinn Féin struggle to define where they are politically”.
“Migration is a good example,” he says, instancing Sinn Féin’s election literature ahead of the June local elections, which stated that the party was opposed to open borders.
“That’s rhetoric borrowed from the United States. The EU has open borders by default. There’s an open border with Northern Ireland that they fought very hard to keep. So it’s that kind of inconsistency, I would say, which differentiates us,” the Social Democrats’ Ó Broin says.
He adds that he believes it to be “disingenuous to people” for Sinn Féin “put it out there that we can have a society without property taxes or carbon taxes”.
“We’re solid that we want healthcare, education, childcare, elderly care, to be available free at the point of use and paid for by tax, and we’re strong on the environment as well,” he adds.
Dublin Mid-West gains an extra seat in this election, so Sinn Féin will be hoping it can once again return two TDs, Ó Broin and Mark Ward. Fine Gael TD Emer Higgins will also try to bring in a running mate, while Fianna Fáil, which lost its seat in 2020, is also running two candidates. People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny is running again.
The Social Democrats aren’t the only party to have poached an Independent councillor – Labour has nabbed Clondalkin’s longstanding council poll-topper, Francis Timmons.
Independent councillor and former Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, who topped the poll in the June elections in Lucan, could benefit from the fact that the incumbent TDs skew to the Clondalkin end of the constituency, while Independent Ireland councillor Linda de Courcey is running on an immigration platform.
There are also candidates from the Greens and Aontú, as well as the anti-EU Irish Freedom Party and anti-immigration Irish People Party, along with other Independents.
All candidates running in Dublin Mid-West and nationwide are in The Journal’s candidate database.
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