Aontú will contest the Dublin Bay South By-Election
Leader of Aontú Peadar Tóibín TD has announced that Aontú will contest the Dublin Bay South By-Election. He stated;“Aontú have 10 functioning Cumann in Dublin and hundreds of members. We have seen significant growth in the last year with some opinion polls indicating that our level of support has doubled since the General Election. The upcoming By-election in Dublin Bay South is an incredibly important election. It will be, in many ways, a referendum on the decisions the government has made in terms of Covid and the length of the Lockdown. Covid is a real illness and it has been critical that older lives and those of the vulnerable are protected. Heartbreakingly this did not happen, with Nursing Homes and Hospitals being locations of high Covid transmission”.
“The FF/FG government implemented by far the longest lockdown in Europe. Contrary to the WHO advice that Lockdown should only be used to protect the Health Service from being overwhelmed this government leaned on Lockdown almost exclusively in its battle against Covid. Capacity weaknesses in our Health Service, the lack of protections at our airports and Nursing Homes, the lack of all Ireland cooperation, a vaccine programme that never met targets its own targets and a government that outsourced decisions, have all added to the longest lockdown in the EU”.
“This has had a massive economic and social cost that will be felt for decades. Health Services such as Cancer and Mental Health treatment are still not operating properly. Indeed many psychiatric engagements are still happening by Skype or over the phone. Many business will not reopen and many workers have been pushed into debt and poverty. The National Debt is expected to reach €270b by 2025. This will be the 3rd highest level of public debt in the world and it will steal investment from future generations”.
“These are real issues for thousands of people in Dublin Bay South. Aontú’s approach to these issues have been significantly different than any of the other establishment parties who are contesting this election. We will ensure that the men and women of Dublin Bay South have a real alternative to uniformity of the political class. We will hold a selection convention in the coming weeks”.