LAST WEEKEND WAS a tough one for Gino Kenny. The two-term TD failed to get reelected in the competitive Dublin Mid West constituency. 

The People Before Profit TD, who was first elected in 2016, was eliminated on the 9th count, falling victim to a crowded left field and a rise in popular support for far-right, anti-immigration candidates (none of whom got elected).

“Obviously I’m very disappointed with the result, and for the people that have been involved in the campaign,” Kenny told TheJournal. 

But sometimes it works out for you and sometimes it doesn’t and on this occasion it didn’t. You just have to grin and bear it and life goes on.

Kenny was a long-time activist before becoming a TD. He served as a South Dublin County Councillor from 2009, and ran twice unsuccessfully (in 2007 and 2011) before getting elected in 2016. 

He dedicated much of his time in the Dáil to advocating for and advancing causes he felt passionately about, most notably increasing access to medicinal cannabis, and more recently trying to change the laws around assisted dying.

Kenny would argue that his tenure shows how even on the opposition benches, TDs can influence policy and in some cases set the political agenda.

“Some of the issues that I raised at the time I was there, I’m very proud that I done that,” he said.

“And without blowing my own trumpet… I think I was effective in terms of raising issues that were on the margins.

And I managed to raise them on a national level. So I’m very proud what I done in the nine years, and some of that work is still unfinished.

In particular, Kenny cites the campaign he was involved in to change the laws around access to medicinal cannabis.

Kenny spearheaded the campaign in the Dáil soon after being elected. In 2016 and 2017 Cork woman Vera Twomey gained widespread national attention advocating for medicinal cannabis for her daughter Ava Barry, who suffered from a rare form of epilepsy.

Twomey managed to obtain the medicinal marijuana licence form then-Health Minister Simon Harris in 2017, after years of campaigning which included two 260-kilometre walks from Cork to the Dáil.

Day 2 Kildorriey Co Cork pic.twitter.com/2aRh0prD3T

— Gino Kenny (@Ginosocialist) March 1, 2017

“I think probably those few days were the most profound days of my time in the Dáil,” he says.

“I walked from Mallow to Dublin with Vera… and it culminated in literally thousands upon thousands of people joining that walk for the few days. It was incredible.

“And it really did change things… I know families that have got access for their children now, and it has made an enormous difference to them.

So that that gave me huge satisfaction that… the government changed legislation, and that’s obviously continuing in terms of the expansion of the Access Program and people trying to get access to medicinal cannabis.

Ava Barry died in May last year. At an inquest into her death yesterday, a coroner praised her mother and father for their “Herculean efforts” to access CBD and THC for her, according to the Irish Times.

Kenny also advocated strongly for the decriminalisation of drugs and for changing the laws around assisted dying. He was a member of the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying that this year published a report, calling for a change to Ireland’s laws.

Kenny also introduced a Bill on the matter, but it remains to be seen whether the next Dáil will progress the legislation, which is contentious and divisive.

So, what’s next for Gino Kenny?

“I’ll still continue to be an activist. I’ll always be an activist no matter what the outcome of any election is,” he said.

“But I wouldn’t rule anything in or out at this moment in time in terms of going for election, for any local elections or general elections. That’s possibly another five years time.

But then at the moment, early in the new year, I’ll assess the situation in terms of trying to find some work, you know. So I’ll have to look at that. And yeah, you have to make a living. 

While he was very disappointed to lose his seat, Kenny says he will continue to fight for the issues that matter to him. 

Everything is temporary. Nothing is permanent. And when I got into activism, I was never a TD or councillor, and I’ll continue to be the activist that I was when I started off.