Candidate Web Site North & East Ward   Kieran Cunnane
	East of the River
Renmore..  Mervue..  Ballybane..  Ballybritt..  Doughiska..  City Centre..  Tirellan..  Menlo..  Sandy Rd..  Riverside..  Castlegar..

You might ask "how does someone decide to run for office ?", well here's  how it unfolded:

For me it all started at an incineration debate in the Corrib Great Southern in Renmore, I think in 1999. An initial good (so I thought) presentation defending the Connaught Waste Management Plan by MC O' Sullivan, was bit by bit taken apart by Scientists and Environmentalists. A big eye opener was that the MCOS plan had a number of basic accounting mistakes - before that I foolishly thought Consultants didn't make mistakes. Pro incineration speakers from Denmark and Sweden also failed to convince me that incineration was safe.

Then during a career break in 2001 to record music with my band, I actively sought the Green Party in Galway as a second interest from my main passion at the time, music. The Dublin office directed me to Niall O' Brolchain, and I started helping with Niall's general election campaign. There were only a few of us involved and I still recall how nervous I was initially, knocking on doors with almost a year to go before the general election. Our monthly meeting grew and grew and the ideas really started to flow. I did a campaign plan for Niall and he asked me to be his Director of Elections. The campaign really gained momentum. A great team and camaraderie ensued and canvassers came from out of the woodwork everywhere. I was shocked at the great level of support at our fundraiser barbeque a few weeks before the election.

The election happened, and during the count, Niall steadily worked his way up through the field until only 7 were left out of 17. At this stage we were hoping Michael D would get a quota and that most of his transfers would go to us. He came one vote short of the quota, and we knew our last chance had evaporated.

During and after the election, I became involved with Galway for a Safe Environment's campaign to stop incineration in Galway and subsequently became Chairperson of the group. I also attended some Hands across the Corrib public meetings. You might think a good way to reduce traffic is build a road, but when I heard what kind of road it was and where, I became convinced that it's a stupid idea and a huge waste of money (although not so obvious from the beginning).

Along the way we had Nice I and Nice II  and Mister Bush's war on terror. He said you had to be either "with him or against him"; I checked out what he was up to and decided I was very much against. I attended several protests including the biggest in our History on Feb 15th. As something a bit different, several members of Galway Alliance against war including myself, launched the "Galway Swan of Peace". This event was very well attended by members of many religions,  and people of no religion at all, clergy, musicians and poets. An impromptu Saxophone tune from a passing South African busker completed the event.

Locally the Eyre Square plan and the bye-laws became issues. Around the same time, the Galway Greens had been asking for me to stand in the local elections, along with several of our members. The GEA held a tree referendum which I helped out with. Myself and another anti-war activist raised the alarm about the bye-laws and formed what is now Defend Free Speech, Assembly and Activity (DFSAA). The group has won the first stage of it's campaign; City Hall has modified the litter pollution bye-law to allow political  and lobby groups to leaflet. If the 2nd (parks) by-law comes to pass, all the local groups will be severely restricted, democracy will be very much weakened and Galway's cultural, leisure and sporting activities will be impacted. Busker's who are so integral to Galway are also threatened.  The park's bye-law is set to unfold in the coming weeks, so I'll keep you posted.

In late September I formally declared along with my colleagues and now the campaign is in full swing. I'm very much an optimist but I wonder how so many bad ideas get to prevail. I despair at cronyism and corruption, which I'm becoming ever more aware of at local level. I see the rights of some local authority estates being ignored, and people being labelled as cranks or stupid. I see the Council ignoring their own City Development Plan when it suits them.  Nationally, restrictions of Freedom of Information Act and changes to planning and waste management laws attack freedom and democracy. Environmental and heritage concerns are secondary, because cronyism is rife. Privatisation to sell our state assets to profiteers and globalisation are to attacks to our quality of life. I'm not willing to stand idly by and let all of this unfold. We can all be aware or complain about what is happening, but some of us have to put ourselves forward. We need a regime change to something which puts people before profit. The starting point is local Government, and that's where I intend to start. I hope what I'm saying strikes a chord because we need at least five seats from the left wing parties like the greens in order to make a significant change in Galway.  The press releases and opinion page gives a deeper insight into my stated opinions.