Mayo Greens select Micheál Boxty O’Conaill for general election
THE Mayo Green Party has selected retired businessman Micheál Boxty O’Conaill to run for the forthcoming general election.
Mr. O’Conaill, who represented the party for the Belmullet electoral area in the local elections in June, was raised in Erris and managed an insurance brokerage in Dublin for many years, before returning to Belmullet, where he managed the well-known boxty factory.
He said that the Greens had delivered strongly for Mayo in their time in government since 2020, and that he wanted to see this progress continue.
He also noted that after the local elections, the membership of the Green Party in Mayo increased, which shows that there is a growing interest in moving towards a greener Mayo.
His campaign will be based around five key issues - warmer and healthier homes; strong public transport; decent incomes for small farmers; family friendly quality of life; and vibrant green jobs and economy.
He pledged to campaign for more incentives for small farmers in disadvantaged areas so that they could be assured of better and more varied income streams. He also said that he would work to ensure increased retrofitting to make homes - and particularly low income and energy poor homes - more comfortable, warmer and more efficient.
He said that he would campaign to see the transformation of public transport in Mayo continue at pace and that, above all, he wanted Mayo to be a great place to raise a family, with strong family and generational supports, safer towns and villages, remote working opportunities and access to new green enterprises and jobs, based on Mayo’s abundance of natural resources, both on and off-shore.
“Many Mayo farmers have the most to gain from regenerative and nature-based farming solutions that pay well, which is what green agriculture is all about,” Mr. O’Conaill said. “The ACRES scheme was a green vision and Mayo has the second highest county-wide sign-up. Mayo farmers now receive an adequate payment for growing organic food sustainably. There are new generous grants for forestry. In addition, the Greens pushed the national biomethane strategy, which will provide another way for Mayo farmers to diversify and strengthen their incomes.
“The Greens are the transformative party in government - the party of ideas and solutions that are all about improving people’s quality of life as well as helping the planet. Over the past four and a half years, we have delivered those solutions - like halving childcare and introducing the new baby boost, pushing for greater regional balance, making 1,000 homes a week warmer and more efficient or giving a basic income to our artists, for example.”
He continued: “One of the areas we have had the greatest impact has been in public transport, and particularly rural transport. We reduced transport cuts for the first time in 75 years - really helping young people - and have rolled out a new or enhanced bus route every single week. In Mayo, this change is more than evident, with new bus routes, greater frequency and the greatest vote of confidence of all, full buses. Everywhere you look in this county there are signs of the Green Party’s thinking and impact. It’s good for people, it’s good for the pocket and it’s good for the planet, so let’s keep it going.”