Danielle O’Rourke (People Before Profit- Killiney-Shankill)

Name: Danielle O’Rourke

Age: 22

Preferred pronouns: She/Her

Party: People Before Profit

Local Electoral Area: Killiney-Shankill

Is this your first time running? Yes

What are your reasons for running as a young person in politics?

A lot of people wonder why I chose to go into politics at my age, and my answer is always the same: I couldn’t not! I’m a working class, bisexual woman with mental health difficulties — I could never afford to be “not interested in politics”. My life has been the topic of political discussion for as long as I remember, from the debate around marriage equality, to the complete inaction of our government on housing. And I’m not alone in this. Ever since I first voted in the Marriage Equality Referendum, I’ve seen the passion our generation has for change. We have seen the way the world is being run, and we are not happy with it.

A lot of the movements we have seen over the past while have had large youth contingents — when I took part in the Take Back the City occupations, the majority of us were students. The school strike for climate action is another example. Young people are involved, informed, and incensed with the political spectrum at the moment, and it is only right that we get involved. There will be decisions made in the political realm that will hugely affect us and our futures — we should be involved in these decisions.