GE 24 meet the candidates: Donal Jackson (Independent)
Meet the candidates GE 24
Athlone-based Donal Jackson is an independent candidate in the Longford Westmeath constituency. See www.donaljackson.com for more.
Do Independents have any real power to enact change in the Dáil?
I take this question to mean in the country. Well, yes is my answer. Unelected I would not have the plinth. Consequence always exposes the charlatans and, as an elected official, I can talk everywhere about the consequences of government leanings towards particular legislation i.e. I would talk to the media about the difference between funding, costings and inflation. Something that quite obviously few in current government know about and nobody in opposition.
Why did you decide to run for the Dáil?
I simply want this to be a country where my children can grow and build a home and have life’s opportunities for their children. Right now, I can’t see it and that’s why I am persisting. There are many reasons for that, not least of which is best boy in the class syndrome from a woefully out of tune Green Party. They are trying to turn back the clock on 300-odd years of industrial revolution in 10 years. They have forgotten, if they ever knew, what organic means and everything green gets a grant or subsidy, driving inflation. Grants and subsidies, in the green case, should be presented as equity opportunities for Irish citizens, (not a compulsory tax), resulting in a sharing of the wealth.
What one issue would be your top priority if you are elected to the Dáil?
Identifying the proper systems within government. In my position, as an elected independent, I would talk to people on many issues, but as I have discovered, most want a way forward on housing. As an aeronautical engineer with an MBA, MSc in marketing and in my third year of my economics PhD, I have some idea of what could be done for housing. I firmly believe, as stated, consequences is where proposals are proofed with suitability, sustainability and sensibility as the markers.
With banking confidence being a major problem in Ireland, I believe the responsibility for mortgages should be our pension funds. There are some conditions, which I can if necessary go into? But suffice to say for now; the consequences are excellent in this regard because of the conditions.