Election hopeful driven by passion for more diversity in Kinnegad area

Anthonia Izekor wants to provide a mirror for young people from ethnic backgrounds to see themselves in decision making roles, and that’s why she hopes to run in the 2024 local elections in the Kinnegad Electoral Area.

The 36-year-old mother of five has been living in Ireland for more than 20 years and she believes her wealth of experience in community and voluntary, work coupled with a vision for inclusion and diversity, would make her an ideal county councillor.

Originally from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, Anthonia works in the chief state solicitor’s office in Dublin and she is also the first black person to become an invigilator and a scribe for examinations at the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Campus (formerly Athlone IT).

Anthonia established the Unique Community Youth Group in the Kinnegad area a few years ago in a bid to bring young people from people ethnic backgrounds and religions together, as she believes many young people feel excluded in Irish society.

“Ireland is a cosmopolitan society, which embraces diversity, but I see a gap when it comes to young people from different ethnic backgrounds as even those young people born in Ireland don’t really feel accepted or included."

“They don’t see many black people or black women like themselves in decision making roles and I want to provide a mirror to them, so if they see it’s possible for me, they can identify and see themselves. I want them to know they can be anything they want to be in Ireland – that they are capable and accepted,” said Anthonia.

“The Unique Youth Group embraces cultural diversity. It’s all about creating awareness and I believe the youth are our future – we don’t want them to see difference and I am passionate about that,” said Antonia.

She is keenly aware of the unifying power of sport as her own children are involved in basketball, soccer and the local GAA.

Her eldest son, Danians, is studying bio-medicine and is a keen rugby player, her second son, Divine, plays with the Bohemians U17s, while her other children are involved with local basketball and GAA and her daughter Diana is also a keen soccer player.

“Sport is a great unifier for young people,” said Anthonia. “Our young people have so much talent and with all the different ethnic communities in this country, there is no reason we can’t imagine Ireland getting to a World Cup.”

Anthonia has a Masters in Psychology and Human Resources and believes more diversity in council chambers would better reflect a multi-cultural society. “If young people and people from different ethnic backgrounds don’t see themselves in our county councils, it is not reflective of society and their views and opinions are not being heard at the decision-making tables, and I am passionate about changing that,” said Anthonia.

She became involved with See Her Elected through the Fine Gael Women’s Network and began with the Introduction to Politics course. She is now enrolled up on the follow-up Foundation strategy workshops.

“I find the See Her Elected workshops so empowering – it’s fantastic to meet so many like-minded women who are so full of passion and who want to see change in their communities, and everyone is so supportive of each other.

“It has really given me the confidence and knowledge to run for election. When a group of women get together, they are such a phenomenal powerhouse and I’m delighted there is an organisation like See Her Elected to give us a pathway to getting elected,” said Anthonia.

As well as bringing about improvements and changes to her community in Kinnegad, she notes other issues of concern such as a lack of a secondary school in the town and the fact that there is no library service or train service.

“Kinnegad is a fantastic place to live and work. There is a great community and I want to harness that to bring about changes to make it even better,” said Anthonia.

She is also involved in numerous voluntary and charity work, Kinnegad and Killucan Tidy Towns (as a committee member) and has also completed charity 5k runs for cancer research. Anthonia is also a voluntary tutor for university and secondary school students in her community.

For more information on the range of workshops, supports and resources available from See Her Elected or to join the mailing list email info@seeherelected.ie or log on to www.seeherelected.ie.