Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

This musician and LGBT activist is the first senator elected to the new Seanad

Sinn Féin’s Warfield became the mayor of South Dublin after being elected to the council in 2014.

FINTAN WARFIELD, WHO was the youngest mayor in the country at just 22 in 2014, has topped the polls in the Seanad Cultural and Educational Panel elections.

Sinn Féin’s Warfield became the mayor of South Dublin after being elected to the council in 2014.

He is a relation of Wolfe Tones musician Derek Warfield and has toured with the musician.

He was elected after the first count, taking 200 papers for 200,000 votes, well above the 187,167 quota.

Speaking after his election, Warfield said that being elected in the centenary of the Easter Rising was a “massive honour and privilege”.

“I am immensely proud to have been elected to the Seanad and to have received such a large vote.

“To have been elected on the centenary of the Rising is a massive honour and privilege and I look forward to working with the rest of my colleagues in Leinster House to fight for the type of change promised in the Proclamation.

“As a young person involved in the arts and an LGBT activist, I will be a progressive voice on these issues in the Seanad. I hope that in the coming days I will be joined in the Seanad by an enlarged Sinn Féin team.”

While mayor, Warfield took a 10% pay cut to his €30,000 salary and gave the money to a local women’s refuge, LGBT group BeLonGTo and Citywise (a group that provides young people with educational support in Jobstown).

The 11th count of the five-seat panel finished not long ago, with 13 candidates left.

Read: Former US senator (90) set to marry his same-sex partner

Read: Micheál Martin thinks the Irish Water problem will be solved “in the next day or two”

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
37 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Me Darlin' Dublin
    Favourite Me Darlin' Dublin
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 6:07 AM

    Government parties will ignore this report with breath-taking arrogance.

    308
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
    Favourite Bramley Hawthorne
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 7:22 AM

    The greatest scheme of all is the private landlord subsidy scheme also know as FFGG.

    189
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Burt Macklin
    Favourite Burt Macklin
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 3:25 PM

    @Bramley Hawthorne: As a private landlord I can tell you I get no subsidy whatsoever

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liz O'Neill
    Favourite Liz O'Neill
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 10:18 AM

    An article such as this is meaningless unless you clearly define what you see as ‘poverty’. In some countries its the lack of a family car or inability to afford a restaurant meal once a month. In others, it’s young children digging insects out of the ground to eat because they’ve not had a nutritious meal for weeks. At this stage, we all know that people’s finances are being drastically stretched in this country, that housing costs are ridiculous etc.. but there’s no harm in putting a sense of perspective on it. We are still amongst the most fortunate people on the planet.

    102
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noel Donohue
    Favourite Noel Donohue
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 10:21 AM

    @Liz O’Neill: Very true comment Liz

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Angela McCarthy
    Favourite Angela McCarthy
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 10:49 AM

    @Liz O’Neill: That was very lazy of you Liz. You gave two extreme examples of what poverty might mean with only one applying to this country.

    Are you suggesting that in this ‘Most Fortunate Country’ children are not living/cramped in hotel rooms, lacking all the freedoms and facilities to play and do the things that other children can do?

    Are you suggestion that is this most fortunate country, we dont have children (let alone adults) begging and sleeping on the streets?

    Are you suggesting that in this most fortunate country of ours – that people are so lucky and fortunate, that they get the free choice whether to provide food or heating for their children.

    And of course because we are so fortunate in this country -everyone here are so well off that they can pay all their household bills on time in this massive juggle to survive. we are so fortunate in this country, that the sheriff, the moneylenders and banks, never bother people because of arrears or unpaid debts. Need I go on Liz?

    Yes Liz, you are dead right. Theres no poverty in Ireland because no one is eating insects out of the ground, sure we only did that in the 1840′s!

    100
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergal McDonagh
    Favourite Fergal McDonagh
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 11:06 AM

    @Liz O’Neill: only some are fortunate.
    A very tone deaf response from you.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Name Goes Here
    Favourite Name Goes Here
    Report
    May 31st 2022, 12:06 AM

    @Liz O’Neill: Whilst I agree with you, they should’ve given the definitions used, it’s only good journalism. Your examples are extreme and misleading you compare middle class and extreme poverty.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damien Leen
    Favourite Damien Leen
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 8:05 AM

    Great little country!

    73
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noel Donohue
    Favourite Noel Donohue
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 8:21 AM

    The government is looking into it

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Locojoe
    Favourite Locojoe
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 9:08 AM

    I do not believe Social Justice Ireland figures.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
    Favourite FiannaFáilness FineGaelness
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 9:34 AM

    A @Locojoe translation: “I’m a Fine Gael voter”.

    85
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Allora
    Favourite Allora
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 10:11 AM

    @Locojoe: OK that’s the position you take but do you admit there is a serious housing crisis in the country. I’m homeless 5 years now so I’ll have some insight.

    56
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Angela McCarthy
    Favourite Angela McCarthy
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 11:53 AM

    @Locojoe: I think you saw the words ‘Social Justice’ and instantly thought socialism. Take the blinkers off Joe – you sound a bit Loco!

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
    Favourite Neuville-Kepler62F
    Report
    May 30th 2022, 9:00 PM

    Government (Taxpayer) should get an equity stake in Landlords houses for the subsidies paid directly to them in HAP and RAS ( over €1Billion a year). This applies for other state subsidies.
    Accumulating equity stake in these houses will increase the social housing stock over time.

    Social Justice Ireland note!
    HAP and RAS subsidies should ideally be abolished to reduce rents to their true market rate and consequently reduce the price of houses (14 times annual rent) to affordable levels.

    Ireland’s housing market is seriously screwed up. HAP & RAS don’t help.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Lumezi
    Favourite Robert Lumezi
    Report
    May 31st 2022, 2:56 PM

    someone is making big money here…It s just wrong that rents are so high .

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds