Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín and representatives set to visit Donegal

The leader of Aontú - Deputy Peadar Tóibín - is set to visit Donegal. 

Tóibín will visit Buncrana on Sunday, December 14. He will be a guest speaker at the Novena Mass at Cockhill Chapel and the annual Novena at St Mary’s Church, Cockhill. 

Then, Toibin will meet constituents at St Oran’s National School Hall, joined by Deputy Leader Gemma Brolly.

Mary T Sweeney is Aontú’s Donegal representative.  “Aontu is on the up in Donegal,” she said. “Our membership is growing all the time as people see us as the real opposition. 

“They know that we are fearless in demanding accountability from this Government and don’t shy away from asking the fair but tough questions.

“Despite this country being ‘awash with money’, so many people have never had it so bad. In the 1980s, when unemployment was soaring and interest rates were huge, people had homes. Now we enjoy full employment, but even those in well-paying jobs can barely afford rent, let alone dream of buying their own homes. 

“Many of those who have homes in Donegal are living in constant terror of them collapsing around them due to defective blocks; the litany of housing failures is a damming indictment of this and successive governments. We have huge issues here in Donegal with flooding and the situation around capacity at Letterkenny Hospital has not gone away.

 “People are working all the hours and are barely keeping afloat as they try and grapple with a deepening and very serious cost-of-living crisis. This Government took in €4 billion in Carbon taxes last year, so it cannot try and distance itself from this economic misery. Aontu was the only party to vote against the Carbon Tax, as we knew the ramifications it would have on ordinary working people and so this has come to pass.

“Donegal is not being best served by this Government. Unmanaged immigration has caused, and continues to cause huge disquiet, and it is incredible to see the cynical attempts by this government to backpedal on this issue now and say that as a country we must have a rules-based system that is enforced. Anybody who dared put their head above the parapet and point out this blindingly obvious fact, even up to six months ago, was denounced and shouted down.

“Unelected NGO’s that are shaping the future of our country without any mandate whatsoever from the taxpayers are receiving Billions of Euros in funding. This bloated and largely unscrutinised sector received an estimated €6 billion in State funding last year.

“This is staggering both for its largesse and also because we don’t know if that’s the final figures, as it’s very opaque since the closure of Benefacts, who had tracked how much these NGOs actually received on a yearly basis.

“We have had shameful situations around the care of the most vulnerable children by Tusla, the very body charged with caring for them and Aontu has been the most vocal in calling out this shameful situation. We have also been the only party solidly talking about the reunification of our country.

“Aontú is consistently holding a mirror up to this Government and pointing out its huge failures. The only way to effect change is to change this Government. 

“We are actively seeking candidates to stand for Aontú across Donegal and so I would urge people to come and meet Peadar and other members of our party team in Donegal on December 14. It’s your opportunity to have your say and, crucially, be listened to.” 

Aontú was founded in 2019 by Tóibín, after resigning from Sinn Féin in 2018. The party is known to hold a left-wing stance on economic issues but a conservative stance on social issues, such as anti-abortion. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme