My name is Richard Murray, I live in Ballyfermot with my wife Philomena who was born and raised in the Liberties and our nine children. I am 30 years old and contesting my first general election in which I will be running as an independent candidate.
I attended Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in Drimnagh, while there at the age of fifteen I won a Trinity access project for my detailed study of the 1916 Easter rising. I have always had a deep interest in our country’s history and the Irish political establishment. During this time I began attending political rallies, protests and public meetings. It was around that time I took up a trade as a painter and decorator. After successfully completing my studies myself and Philomena lived in the Cork St area of the Coombe. During the Celtic tiger I established a small painting business. We eventually moved to a council flat in James St.
Ireland’s economical crash had a massive impact on working class families and we were no exception. Work became harder and harder to find and our family had grown. Publicly I joined thousands of my country men and women on the streets of the capital, to vent our anger at the failure of the Fianna Fail/Green Party government to protect the welfare of the ordinary citizen. Privately we faced a massive battle to secure adequate housing for our family, as now on a minimal wage buying or privately renting was not an option.
In 2013 after years of struggling we happily accepted an offer of a house in Ballyfermot, I set about establishing a security company to meet the growing demand in the industry. With the Labour party now a minor partner in government and with all their pre-election promises we believed life could only get better for us as a family and our country as a community. How wrong were we.
By 2014 I realised the Fine Gael/Labour coalition had lost the run of themselves with the people and were now as bad if not worse than the previous government. I personally felt betrayed and let down as promise after promise was broken. Children were living in poverty, our elderly going either hungry or cold, businesses were closing down, evictions were increasing, the number of suicides was growing and thousands of our youth were leaving our shores. Anger turned to motivation, I wanted real change.
On the evening of January the 30th 2014 our whole world came crashing down when our five year old son Lorcan was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. We were told we could take him home and let him spend his final 2-3 weeks with us or risk losing him with a life treating operation. It was the hardest decision of our lives but he deserved a fighting chance.
Lorcan had his kidney removed before starting a six week course of radiotherapy on his lungs and stomach where the cancer had now spread. He also began 14 months of chemotherapy. My wife spent months sleeping in the hospital so not to leave our son alone, while I raised 7 children at home. Our business and political life collapsed as we faced the biggest struggle of our lives, keeping our son alive.
In September 2015 6 months after finishing chemotherapy and cancer free Lorcan was put in partial remission. I had met many parents who had been refused medical cards for their sick or dying children. I decided in early 2015 I would contest the next election. I am determined to see real charge in our country for the benefit of us the people. I have now set about re-establishing my business and Lorcan with his older siblings are some of my best campaign volunteers.
Napoleon Bonaparte once said “some of the fines things in the world are won with a struggle” and I believe that we the people have struggled enough.
Pingback: how to get wikipedia backlinks