Citizen Wallace

“I can’t fuckin’ believe you didn’t ask me about the shirt!” laughs Mick Wallace as Hot Press turns the recorder off at the conclusion of this interview.

The newly elected Teachta Dála for Wexford provoked some sartorial criticism for showing up at the first sitting of the 31st Dáil wearing a bright pink shirt (in honour of the football squad of his beloved Palermo). The long white Robert Plant-ish curls and blue globe earrings were also deemed somewhat inappropriate. Not that Wallace particularly gave a fuck.
Loud shirts aside, Wallace has been regarded as a colourful character on the Irish cultural landscape for many years. Hot Press interviews often end with the question ‘what is your motto in life?’ but there’s no need to ask the outspoken property developer his. The logo of his company Wallace Construction, highly visible on every site they work on, is a football with the legend ‘WORK HARD, PLAY HARD’ sprayed around it (shorted from his full length motto ‘Life is Short. Work Hard. Play Hard. Love Football’).
An avid soccer fan, Wallace has coached countless League of Ireland youth teams in his native Wexford for many years, winning several championship titles. He’s even built a football stadium down there, reportedly shelling out €1.5 million of his own money to do so.
Although well regarded in the soccer leagues and the building trade for many years, Wallace first came to national attention around a decade ago when he began publicly expressing his political views by hanging massive banners from his building site hoardings, protesting the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Iraq war, US foreign policy and the Lisbon Treaty, amongst various other concerns.
On February 4, while appearing on TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne, Wallace made the surprise announcement that he intended to contest the February 25 general election as an independent candidate. Following a whirlwind campaign, he eventually topped the poll with 13,329 votes.
We met at 10am on Tuesday, March 15, in his wine bar in the Italian Quarter on Lower Ormond Quay.

OLAF TYARANSEN: I’d just like to talk a little bit about your background first. So you were born 57 years ago in Wexford...
MICK WALLACE: 55 years ago! Fuck’s sake, like, don’t be trying to fuckin’ add to it, like! Jaysus Christ! (laughs)
Wikipedia has you at 57.
Does it? Well they ought to get their fuckin’ facts right, wouldn’t they? Can you sue someone for that? (laughs)
What kind of upbringing did you have?
Well, I was one of 12 children. I was the seventh child, so I had six sisters, five brothers. One of my brothers was killed in a car accident when he was 14.
What age were you when that happened?
I was a couple of weeks short of 24. I was 23.
Did that have a big effect on you?
Yeah, it was huge. It was my first experience of death, and it was shocking. Shocking. So, it was really, a freak accident, he was in the back of a car that hit a black horse on a black night. And he died from head injuries. You know, life was the never the same again, to be honest.
So going back before that, was it a happy upbringing?
Oh yeah, it was very good, yeah.
I take it you weren’t spoiled, being the middle child?
No, being one of 12 children your parents wouldn’t have time to spoil you, you know? Big difference between having two and having 12. But my childhood memories are good. My father was a businessman, he ran a shop in Wellingtonbridge, and eventually himself and his brother got involved in the building as well. But, funny I have no negative memories at all of childhood.
Were you a rebellious child?
Was I rebellious? Eh… well probably a bit. (laughs)
I read a story about you not going to mass because the local priest wouldn’t allow you to stand up and argue with his sermons.
Yeah, well I used to go to mass obviously. Growing up I was a Catholic. I went away when I was 17 to work in America, with a plan to go to South America. I went away for the best part of a year and it had a huge influence on how I thought about things. I went down to South America, hitch-hiked. I spent five months down there in Central and South America.
Do you speak Spanish?
I learned to speak it at the time, but it died inside me since. I saw at first hand what the Americans were doing down there, they were literally raping the place.
Salvador and Nicaragua?
Yeah, I was in South America in ‘73 when they organised the coup in Chile, when Allende was shot, I witnessed a lot of atrocities; there was a miners’ strike in Bolivia when I was there and the American Rangers who were a military group based in Panama and usually used as fire fighters against trouble, whenever America had investments at all. The American Rangers were sent down to break up the strike and they just shot and killed all the main leaders and protesters. But it never even made the press at home at the time, it was crazy. But there was hundreds killed and it was just the way they did things, they were prepared to kill anybody in order to protect their financial interests. But obviously just about everything that America does, they tell us that it’s in the interest of democracy but in actual fact it’s all about protecting their financial interests.
What are your thoughts on 9/11?
9/11? Well, obviously it was very sad for all the people that were killed in it. And there was what? Approximately 3,000 people killed in it? But they reckon that America’s foreign policy is responsible for the deaths of around 3,000 people every day on this planet.
How about conspiracy theories that say that the Americans were behind the Twin Towers attack?
Well, no, I don’t buy into that conspiracy theory now. I don’t. But listen, it was very sad but then America doesn’t take very well either to harm being inflicted on them. They’re much better at inflicting it on others.
Back to that story about the priest and the mass.
Well, when I came back from South America, I obviously had become very politicised. I had started reading a lot of stuff about how the system worked, and about how society was organised, and how unfair it was, and how unfair the financial system operated. I suppose I started to question a lot of what the Church stood for, and I was still going to mass because my parents would have wanted me to go. But I started going back into the sacristy at the back of the church to argue with the priest. And I told the priest, “Whether you like it or not, I’m actually one of the few people that are actually listening to you out there. Most of them are not even listening – they’re just hoping you won’t take too long and that you get it over with. They believe they should come here but they don’t actually, they think it’s important for them to go because they think it’s a ritual, but they’re not really listening to you.”
I said to him, “I’m listening to you, I am critically analysing everything you have to say and I’m interested in what you have to say. But I don’t agree with very much of what you have to say.” (laughs) And I used to go into the sacristy and argue about what his sermon had said. And eventually I said, “Listen, this is getting so frustrating. Can I stand up in the church and raise points of my own against what you’re saying? Because it’s very, very frustrating listening to you saying things that I completely disagree with. And listen, I’m interested enough to come here, so let me speak! You’re telling me that the Church is our church, that it’s a community, but in actual fact you’re up there and you’re dictating. And it’s a one-man show. It isn’t a community project. You’re dictating to us and you’re not allowing me to answer back. I’m allowed to come in here in this enclosed space here to talk to you, but you won’t let me speak in front of all the people and let me make my points. To be honest with you, I’m going to have to stop coming here unless you let me speak in the church.” And he says, “Well, I’m sorry, I can’t let you do that.” So I stopped going.
You studied history and philosophy in UCD. Were you a good student?
Yeah, I worked very hard. Believe it or not, I actually studied an average of eight hours a day for five days a week. I kept a timetable, if I did four hours one day I had to make it up. I forced myself to do 40 hours minimum every week. From September to May.
So you were always kind of a driven character then?
Yeah, driven mad. (laughs)
When did you have your first drink?
I didn’t drink ‘til I was 17.
You were a late starter by Irish standards.
I was. My father had a huge influence on me – as had my mother – and I adored the ground he walked on. But he did drink more than he should have, I thought, so it put me off it a bit and I didn’t drink ‘til I went to America. The first place I drank was Boston. I got a job working in a factory making Christmas decorations in Boston, but eventually got in on the buildings with the Irish. And then of course I’d also go drinking with the Irish. (laughs) But yeah, I took to it well. (laughs) Obviously I’m very conscious, I mean I coach football. I’m presently coaching five different football teams, the county teams: under-16s and under-18s where you pick from all the different clubs in the county, and also the Wexford Youths club teams, 17s, 18s and 20s. I would be very much — I see alcohol as a huge problem. The abuse of alcohol. I mean alcohol is fine. I have a pint of Guinness most days. I always have wine with my meals – at lunchtime and in the evening – and I see it as something that’s healthy. But I see massive alcohol abuse in this country and with the footballers, with the young fellas, it’s one of the first challenges you have, is that you actually try and develop a sensible, disciplined approach to the use of alcohol. It’s just madness really.
What are you feelings on alcohol companies sponsoring football leagues?
Well, how much of an impact that has… (shrugs). They’re going to advertise anyway. If they don’t spend it on different leagues, it’s going to be out there anyway. It comes in a whole lot of different forms. Now to be honest with you I wouldn’t accept sponsorship from Coca-Cola myself, for example. If they wanted to sponsor the Wexford Youths I wouldn’t take it off them because I disagree with the use of Coca-Cola. I ban it from my young players because I think it’s detrimental to their health. I actually think that a pint of Guinness a day is probably good for you. Now, four or five of them isn’t, but I think one pint of Guinness a day is good for you. I think good red wine with your food, it draws gastric juices to your stomach to help your digestive process, so it’s healthy. But too much wine is bad for you. But I actually think that one Coke is bad for you. Kids consume too much of it, and this adds a lot to obesity. It’s reached a stage now where nearly one in three kids of ten years of age is obese in Ireland. That’s unbelievable. It’s running at 27% of kids at ten years of age in Ireland are obese? Parents want the best of everything for their kids and they allow them to become obese and they buy them Coca-Cola? It’s crazy.
How about illegal drugs? Did you ever experiment with anything in the States or beyond that?
No, very little to be honest. But I do believe in the legalisation of the likes of hash. I think it’s madness that it’s illegal. Of course there’s some drugs that it’s better if they’re illegal, but making hash legal is a no-brainer. There’s huge money to be picked up by the Revenue, by the taxpayers, by the tax system. It would be great if we tapped into it and we controlled the supply of it as well, to make sure it’s safer. I mean, hash is being interfered with now by people spraying plastics or whatever to make it heavier. You could control that. Prostitution is another one. Prostitution is legal in places like Germany and they’re checked for health issues on a weekly basis, and it comes under the authority of the health board.
There’s a recently proposed legislation that will make it an offence for a man to pay for sex. So I take it you wouldn’t support that?
No, I wouldn’t. Obviously prostitution generally speaking today is a huge abuse of vulnerable people. But where would you say they’re being abused more, Ireland or Germany? I can guarantee you they’re being abused more here. Because it’s all illegal and there’s no controls for it. Prostitution is as old as man and whether we like it or not, if this planet survives another hundred thousand years there’ll still be prostitution.
Have you ever used a prostitute?
I haven’t, believe it or not. (laughs) Though I do believe that it’s probably the cheapest sex you’ll ever get! I’ve never had free sex. (laughs)
Are you married?
I was married. I have two kids from my marriage and I live with the two kids now out in Fairview, two boys. And I have two kids from a relationship with another woman. I see them on a regular basis and all four kids get on well.
What ages are they?
The two elder boys from my marriage are 27 and 29. The 27-year-old is studying philosophy at the moment in UCD, and he imports the wine for the wine bars and controls the stock and prices. And the older boy, Sasha, 29, he’s running two clothes shops on the street here and he has an agency for two Spanish clothes brands, Strumfunk and Kling. And the two younger kids then are Gráinne, the girl, is 18, she’s doing her Leaving Cert this year and Joseph is 16, he’s in transition [year], playing for the Wexford Youths now under 16s and 17s. Yeah, proud of all four of them.
Why did you make the decision to stand in this election?
I’m not sure. I really don’t… I mean, I was going to do it and I wasn’t going to do it and I was going to do it and wasn’t going to do it for months before the election and then I just decided, “Fuck it, I’ll go for it.” My reasons for doing it, it’s probably strange - I mean I’m putting myself through a lot of hardship that I don’t really need. Some people say they think that just because my construction company is in serious trouble that that’s why I did it, but that has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Is it in serious trouble?
Oh yeah it is, yeah.
Tell me a bit about how you built Wallace Construction up.
I started working on the buildings when I was 17 and sure I worked every year on the buildings at different stages all my life from then on. But it wasn’t until 1989 that I registered my own company. I had been working on the buildings a good bit before that, but I registered my own company in ‘89 and that’s when it really started off for me and I built it from there.
And you made a lot of money.
I would have made a lot of money, but obviously would have kept a lot of assets and a lot of property. I would have about 75 units in this city, in the centre of the city between the canals alone, between offices, shops and apartments. But as is well known, I owe about €40 million to the banks and there was a time when the assets were worth double that but now they’re worth less.
Does that keep you awake at night?
No, it doesn’t, no. Different things keep me awake.
Such as?
I worry more about personal things than business. Personal pressures are far more likely to get in on my system. My kids: I’m very sensitive to any issues that I might have with my kids or they might have with themselves or with anybody else. And that’s much more concerning altogether than business. But listen, I do my best to make my business work and I’ve done my best to make my construction company, I’ve tried to keep it afloat for the last three and a half years. The banking crisis would have started for me around September ’07, and I’ve been dealing with four banks in that period since. It’s been very difficult but we’ve done our best to keep it going. Unfortunately, not only do we owe money to the banks but we also owe money to sub-contractors that we haven’t been able to pay. Because we couldn’t sell all the apartments on the last few jobs, we ended up having to rent them out and the bank takes the rent. But because we couldn’t bring in all the money for the sales, we were left in a situation where we couldn’t pay all our debts. Now if the banks were to continue to support me, then I could come through the crisis and I could pay everybody, but if the banks don’t support me and bring in a receiver, then obviously my business would collapse and I’d just have to start again.
Could you go bankrupt?
There’s a possibility, but it’s unlikely. There’s nothing really in it for a bank to make me bankrupt because it’s an expensive business to make someone bankrupt and there’s nothing in it for them. They won’t make any money from making me bankrupt, in fact it’ll cost them money. So it would be vindictive of them to make me bankrupt so I don’t expect to be made bankrupt.
There’s a lot of spite in the air at the moment though, isn’t there?
Hmm... (laughs) Maybe so but anyway, I don’t expect them to make me bankrupt.
I’m really asking you that question in relation to you being a TD, you know?
Yeah, I know yeah. I realise that if I was bankrupt then I would lose my place in the Dáil, yeah.
What are your ambitions for your time in the Dáil? What do you hope to achieve?
First of all, it’s very difficult to change any system. It’s very difficult to change it if you’re not in government and then it’s extra difficult to change it as an independent. But then having said that, I think an independent can have more influence in some ways than some of the governing party. For example, Fine Gael and Labour between them now have 113 seats. Well, 90 of those probably won’t even speak in the Dáil. 80 of them surely will not speak, and will not play any part in the parliamentary process. They’ll be told when to come into the House, when to put their hand up and when to keep it down. And they’ll just be victims of the party system. And the whip will just be applied and they’ll say “this is how you’re voting today.” Whereas as an independent I’m going to do research, I’m going to try and find out. I have to learn more about how our system operates. Now, I’m not completely green about it. I’ve been interested in politics for a long time. I’ve read expansively on the whole subject. But I’ve got to be more specific now and I’ve got to study like, for example, how our local government is operating. Before I can look at changing it, now I must find out exactly what is it doing, then what it should be doing and then how do we change it? How do we get it from where it is to where we’d like it to be? And that’s a big challenge. That’s one of the things that I want to try and achieve but that’s going to be very difficult and now, as I said in my opening speech in the Dáil. I addressed the new Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and I said, “You’ve got a massive majority and if you choose you can completely ignore the assistance of the opposition. But if you’re genuine about political reform, if you’re genuine about this House working in a proper parliamentary fashion, then you will listen to the opposition and you will engage with us. Because we are all here representing, everybody in the Dáil represents the citizens of Ireland. We’ve all been put there by people who wish to be represented by us and we should be allowed to operate there in a healthy manner. And the opposition can throw cold water on that if they like or they can actually facilitate the proper working of the parliament and we can be more effective then.”
Now there’s a lot of other issues but even if I did nothing else in my time in there other than change the mindset, then I think it would be an achievement. I disagree with the present mindset, I think the political process serves the people very poorly and that’s one of the reasons I went into politics because I think it needs to change. I think that there is no real connect between the Dáil chamber, the 166 people who occupy it, and the people who put them there. And too often in my lifetime, I have seen private interest and big business divide the electorate from the legislative. And too often decisions are made in the best interest of those who can pay rather than in the interest of the people who the Government are supposed to be serving.
Are you working in tandem with any other independents?
No. I’m in a technical group, but we are completely independent. But there’s some very interesting independents: there’s 19 of us in total and half of us would have no party allegiances to anybody else and that’s going to be very interesting. I think we can help to initiate change in some areas. I’m not saying we can change the world but I think most people agree that change is needed and even if we only… It’s not going to happen overnight but we have to start some time. Rome wasn’t built in a day but it was started one day.
It was also burnt down while our previous Government fiddled.
Yeah, well some people might think that the system needs to be dismantled before it can be properly built. Now getting it completely dismantled is probably not going to happen because there’s too much vested interest to allow that to happen. So our best chance is to start to erode inefficiencies and the corrupt element of it. Because there are people, we all know that, we have become very used to corruption in this country and a lot of things go on at government level that shouldn’t go on.
Did you ever pay a bribe to anyone as a builder?
No, and I never paid a bribe to a planner for anything either.
Were you ever asked?
No, I was never. We know that planners have taken bribes but I can assure you that, I would have dealt with Dublin City Council mostly because I built nearly always between the canals in Dublin and I have never… To be honest with you, the people I met in Dublin City Council in the planning department were generally very honest and actually cared about the city. But too often, there has been political interference in planning decisions.
You fell out with Dublin City Council didn’t you, when you put up the ‘No to Lisbon’ banner on one of your buildings?
I didn’t fall out with them, they fell out with me. It’s very different. Cos I got on great with Dublin City Council, I got on great with a lot of people working in there. We built very well for them, we were easy to work with, we didn’t make claims, we built with passion and we cared about what we did, and we did it better than any of the others, than our opponents. But as you know, I put up about six different banners over a seven-year period from ‘98 to ‘05 or ’06. ‘No to War’, ‘No to Nice’, ‘No to American Terrorism’. And that upset them a lot. It didn’t upset the Council, it upset the Government because their American friends didn’t like it very much and they wanted it down.
You went to court over that, didn’t you?
I went to the High Court to stop them from taking it down and I won. Somebody was sent to me; I remember working, I was laying pavement on Fade Street at the time and one of the senior people in the Council came down to me and he said, “The banner, you’ve got to take it down. You have to take it down. We’re getting pressure from the very top of the Government and we’re being told ‘that bastard works for you so why can’t you tell the fucker what to do?’” And I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t take it down. I couldn’t live with myself if I took it down.” “Well,” he says, “we’ve been told that you’ll never get work again if you don’t take it down.” “Well,” I said, “that sounds very unfair, I don’t see why it should have anything to do with my work, but I still can’t take it down. I don’t care if it costs me money.” I didn’t take it down and in fairness to the Council they didn’t give me any more work (smiles).
Are you quick to anger?
Am I quick to anger? I don’t have a temper but I am angered by injustice, yes, but I don’t have a temper.
When’s the last time you threw a punch?
Oh god, I can’t remember now. I’ve hardly ever fought; I’m a pacifist, completely. But at the same time, I will fight verbally but not physically.
When’s the last time you cried?
I cry regularly. I do, I cry a lot. I’m very emotional.
What kind of music do you like?
My favourite band are probably still The Who. I like the Stones, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. There’s a lot of new stuff over the last few years as well that’s very interesting. I’m very fond of music, music makes you feel good.
Just some issues that are going to come up in the Dáil in the coming months. Where do you stand on the abortion debate?
Nobody likes the idea of it very much but I do think it’s a woman’s choice. I was attacked on my election campaign about it. I was giving some town hall meetings during the election campaign. Now my election campaign was the shortest in history I’d say, it was 16 days. I quickly organised some meetings and I went door-to-door as much as I could as well. I covered the whole county and the votes that came in for me reflect that because they came from the four corners of Wexford, not just one district. But a guy came to one of the meetings and says, “Are you pro-life or pro-abortion?” Which I think is a crazy way of putting it. Of course everyone is in favour of life, nobody wants to see anybody die, but I do think that there’s numerous cases in pregnancy where it isn’t necessarily healthy for the woman to go ahead and have the child. It has to be the woman’s choice.
And when I gave him that answer I said, “I realise I’m not going to get your vote now but this is my answer.” My phone was bombarded from that day, from that minute. When I turned my phone back on after that talk there were about 20 e-mails in it from people asking me how do I stand on this. The same spiel from all of them, and this went on for the rest of the election campaign. My phone was inundated from this pressure group, from the pro-life group.
Was it Youth Defence?
I don’t know who they were but it’s like bully tactics, they were behaving like a cult. It’s a bit frightening really. But obviously the big parties have steered well clear of it, because there was no votes in it. You got more votes for going with the pro-life crowd than going the other way. And so the main parties are reluctant to show the courage to deal with this in a healthy manner. And if any of them still think that it’s better that the girl who feels that she needs an abortion, if they think that it’s still better that she gets on the boat rather than gets it done in a healthy fashion here, god help us.
How about gay marriage and gay adoption?
I would be in support of all of that. I was always a great believer in live and let live.
Would you describe yourself as a liberal?
No, I don’t like that word really. I would like to think that I’m a clear thinker. I think clear thinking is essential.
Do you believe in God?
I’m not so sure. I’ve always been very interested in the idea; I would have read all the Russian novelists. Dostoyevsky was obsessed with the idea, of his existence or non-existence. I read every book that Dostoyevsky wrote, I read all Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn. The Russians had great fun arguing over the existence of God and I’ve always been fascinated by it. But I have an open mind on the matter, but with regard to the Christian philosophy I think it’s excellent. The notion that we should treat everyone as we would like them to treat us is super. It’s a great core philosophy. It’s a pity that we don’t all apply it. (laughs)
What do you think of the deal that Michael Woods did with the Catholic Church whereby the taxpayer paid most of the compensation to victims of the clergy’s sexual abuse?
Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Just the same as I think it’s crazy that the taxpayer is now paying for the developers’ problems. The developers’ problems should have stayed banking problems, not taxpayers’ problems. The developer is a pariah now in Ireland because of the way the Government handled the banking crisis. They have made the developer the most unpopular grouping in the country.
But one just got elected to the Dáil.
Yeah, he kind of bucked the trend a bit. (laughs) But the developer would not be seen in the same light if his problems had stayed with the banks. Our Government handled it poorly, the blanket guarantee in September ‘08 was a mad idea, NAMA was a mad idea, and I think time will bear that out.
There’s a story about you threatening to hire a hit man to take out some builder who owed you money.
Yeah… (laughs). It was a big contractor and he owed me money and didn’t want to pay me. I discovered then when I looked into it – I tried to get my money legally – and I discovered that this was a commonplace thing. That this company was used to shafting sub-contractors and that they generally got away with it. They had a legal team in place for dealing with it and my solicitor eventually told me that I’d be doing well to get my money within two-and-a-half years and I’d be doing well to get two-thirds of it. So that was fine. And just by accident I happened to meet this guy who was involved in the security business and I found out that he started off making his living with a gun, and actually still did it. So I decided I’d go back and have a chat with him and discussed it with him. He told me that he could get my money, that it would cost me four thousand. He says, “I’ll be going out to his house at eight or nine o’clock at night. You just have to give me the name of the contracts manager you’re dealing with and the name of the company and I’ll find out the rest. I’ll find out where he lives, I’ll go to his house when he’s at home with the wife and kids. I’ll be putting my foot in the door, I’ll be putting a gun down his neck and I’ll give him seven days to pay.” And he says, “Now there’s one snag. I have my reputation to look after. If by chance he doesn’t pay, you realise I’ll have no choice only shoot him.” “Oh I see, right,” says I, “that sounds fair enough.” “So if you like,” he says, “this is serious business, we don’t mess around, do you want to try and get your money the more normal route for a couple of weeks? Give it another three or four weeks and see can you get it? If you’ve no luck, sure come back to me again and we’ll set up the plan.”
Now obviously I wasn’t going to hire anyone to shoot anybody but I decided, “Well, sure I might as well just put the rumour out.” I decided to meet a guy for a drink the next evening who was working for the company and I told him, “Oh, by the way,” I said, “I’m going to get my money from the company.” And he said, “My god, how did you manage that?” and I said, “Well I haven’t got it yet but I’m going to get it.” And he said, “I don’t believe you, how are you getting it?” and I said, “I hired a hit man.” “I don’t believe you’,” he says, “Wallace you’re making it up.” “I’m not, I’m going getting one. You keep your mouth shut now,” I said. The next day I got a phone call from the managing director of that company – who I’d never spoken to in my life – he wanted to meet me. And I went to meet him and got paid.
That’s one way of getting things done.
To be honest I wouldn’t have hired anyone to shoot him. There’s more to life than money.
Should the Seanad be abolished?
In its present form, yes. But I notice that all the people that were in favour of it being abolished are now all bursting to get into it again, which is gas. Now, I don’t think the idea of having a second House is such a bad idea. But in its present form it’s pointless and it doesn’t serve the function that it should. You do have two houses in most parliamentary setups in the world, but it has to have a function and it has to work properly. Ours doesn’t. So they should either completely dismantle it and rebuild it or do without it.
Would you like to see David Norris as president?
To be honest with you, I don’t really mind who’s president. Whether it’s David Norris or Michael D. Higgins, I like both of them. Both of them would do fine for me.
Who are your personal heroes?
My father and mother. My mother’s alive – she’s 87 – my father’s dead. My father died young and I’ve missed him every day since. I was very fond of him. My mother’s in great health, she has the mind of a 20-year-old and in very good health. She’s 87 now in April.
What’s your plan for the rest of the day? As a newly elected TD, your routine must be a lot different.
Yeah… (laughs) What am I doing today? I have to go up to the Dáil early to meet a school group from Wexford, they want to meet me up there. And then I have to go to a technical meeting – you know the independents are part of the technical group – so we’re meeting at a quarter to two and then the Dáil sits at half two. And I think it sits for five hours so that will be interesting hopefully. After that I’m supposed to cook this evening for my four kids and that’s about it.
Would you describe yourself as media-savvy?
I’ve had good use of the media in all its formats to say what I want to say. I do have good access to it.
You always did really, didn’t you?
I did, I had it before now and I probably have more of it now. The truth of the matter is I’m probably going to have more influence outside the gates of Leinster House than inside them. But I can change what goes on inside from outside too, and the notion that you can’t, I would like to think that, I’ve been trying to impact on how things are done for the last 20 years in a whole lot of different areas and, you know, I can’t claim to have been directly responsible for anything in particular, but I try.
What’s been the proudest moment of your life?
Probably winning the All-Ireland with the Wexford Youths for the first time in 2000. We’ve won five under-18 All-Irelands in the last 11 years. Winning the first one in 2000 was probably the proudest moment of my life.