Hi there election candidate!

I can do leaflets too.

Lookit, what your leaflet tells me are the things you're interested in, but unless you ask (and are actually interested!) you're not really going to learn what I want my TDs and Senators² to do on my behalf.

So, here's a leaflet from me, outlining my concerns. If you want to vote for you, all you need to do it post on Mastodon or BlueSky with the #GE2024 and #IWantEibhearsVote hashtags, '@' me and tell me which of my priorities are your priorities too! I am…

• @eibhear@social.gibiris.org on the Mastodon network
• @eibhear.gibiris.org on BlueSky

Read on to see what my priority concerns are.

Present a detailed and radical climate action plan, up to and beyond 2100, based on equity and justice.

• Climate action that depends on individual behaviours or private investment and competition will not achieve the changes we need.

Free public transport for all, urban or rural

• Ireland should invest massively in rolling out public transport options.
• De-prioritising of private car ownership. As the internet meme says: electric cars will save the motor industry, but public transport will save the planet.

Invest in native energy production, prioritising a broad base of renewable and sustainable sources of energy.

• Revoke all fossil fuel exploration and extraction licences
• Form international coalitions on energy sharing
• Public building (including public housing buildings) to have solar panels as standard

Retro-fitting schemes to prioritise vulnerable people and disadvantaged areas.

Develop effective internet policies, following advice from technology experts

• Note: technology experts; people with objective, fact-based, research expertise on the relevant products and technological measures.
  • Not technology company executives – they're business people and not independent.
  • Not those who demand reforms without regard for potential unintended consequences.
• Be clear and honest on the real goals of any internet regulation

Reject misinformation, especially if it furthers agendas you support:

• Stop suing journalists and news outlets just because they told truths you don't want known
• Punish government departments and agencies that use misinformation in public awareness campaigns

More transparency in government

• Revise Freedom of Information law to apply a presumption of releasing the information (requiring a specific reason not to do so)

Prioritise public health over patent protection

• Allow for TRIPS waivers, including an automatic suspension of patent rights during health emergencies such as the COVID pandemic.

We now need radical measures to address homelessness and housing demand.

Prioritise the public good over private profit

• Policy based on so-called "trickle-down-economics" doesn't work

Authorise and fund the building and management of local authority housing

• Employ workers directly to build sustainable social housing
  • Permanent and pensionable jobs will kill the "but where will we get the builders?!?" excuse

Act to prevent abuses by landlords

• The landlord may own the house or apartment, but the law should protect the renter's home

Stop blaming immigration and immigrants

• The housing crisis was here before the far-right started this nonsense.

Count homelessness honestly

• Don't rough-sleepers, couch surfers and young adults who can't move out of their parents' homes from statistics. This is unjust, and is a form of misinformation.

Treat all homeless people with compassion and respect, regardless of the reason for the homelessness.

• No more blaming homeless people for their homelessness
• No more stealing and destroying the last pieces of personal property of homeless people because you want a pretty view.

Protect RTÉ

• Fully publicly-funded; remove the dependence on revenue from ads
• Restate editorial independence – sanctions for ministers and TDs who threaten RTÉ in response to editorial decisions

More access to information

• Require all state-produced copyrightable works, including e.g. RTÉ's archives, to be released under the terms of a Creative Commons licence.

Prioritise the protection of libraries and archiving over business models founded on incorrect interpretations of the point of copyright.

Protect libraries against the long and slow campaign by publishers to destroy their benefit to society

Protect the Public Domain

We need to stop politicians and campaigners targetting vulnerable sections of society for political gain. Reject these behaviours.

Asylum seekers, transgender people, disabled people, unemployed people, jewish or muslim people, poor people. None of these are a threat to me or to you. When you're in debates or panels and someone shows bigotry, call it out.

• We need a clear, affirmative debate on Ireland's traditional policy of neutrality – no more hosting of conferences on the topic with sponsorship by arms industry funds
• Pass the Occupied Territories Bill. Now.
• Prosecute operators of flights carrying munitions of war illegally in Irish airspace

Implement Sláintecare.

• Just stop the political messing-about, and get on with it.

Real reform for the Seanad

• Open franchise to Dáil voters
• Seanad elections on the same day as Dáil elections
• Demographic constituencies, not geographic

• A wealth tax
• Recover the billions of euros in lost PRSI due to bogus self employment, and prosecute those who evaded this tax
• Stop pretending that social welfare recipients are the enemy