Limerick solicitor to contest Dail election in city constituency
Michelle Hayes hopes to make it second time lucky after missing out on council in summer
LIMERICK solicitor Michelle Hayes is to contest the General Election as an Independent candidate.
Ms Hayes, who practices at Glentworth Street in the centre, is running in the four-seater Limerick City constituency.
It’s the second time in less than six months she has put her name before the public.
Back in June, she also ran as an Independent candidate in the Cappamore-Kilmallock district for Limerick City and County Council, missing out on a seat on that occasion.
Now, with the election on Friday, November 29, Ms Hayes is hoping to go one better.
As co-founder and president of Environmental Trust Ireland, she has represented people in complex legal and environmental cases, and assisted them in resisting developments in their communities.
She says she has continued to oppose the Irish Cement reforms in Mungret.
Other priorities if elected, she says, will be the opening of a new public hospital, as well as the re-opening of emergency departments at St John’s Hospital plus in Nenagh and Ennis to take the pressure off University Hospital Limerick.
She says the Government started the housing crisis, and described ‘generatio nrent’ as “a social experiment with no consideration for the long-term consequences of people not having a roof over their heads when they get older."
“People may be able to afford rent now while they are working, but what happens when they retire and have to live on a pension? Unchecked and without solutions, the homelessness crisis is likely to become far worse,” she warned.
The Independent Dail hopeful believes the outgoing Government has “left people behind” and failed to protect them during the cost-of-living crisis.
She wants to see greater support for victims of crime, and the gardai to be given improved training to support people who face harrassment, online abuse and cyberbullying.
She is also seeking the a bolition of the Universal Social Charge and a heightening of the inheritance tax threshold.
A VAT cut for businesses is in her manifesto.
As of Sunday, Ms Hayes was one of 17 candidates who had put their name before the people of Limerick in the city area.
She’s one of two Independent candidates on the ballot paper, the other being northside councillor Frankie Daly.