New Irish Parliament Member Gino Kenny, from the Anti-Austerity Alliance, celebrated his election victory, this past Saturday, by waving a Palestinian flag.Kenny, aged 42, is a local Irish activist that has been a People Before Profit Alliance councilor on South Dublin County Council since 2009.
He also has been an active campaigner against the property tax and the water charges, and, if elected, says that solving Dublin Mid-West’s lack of social housing will be his number one priority.
Gino was elected to South Dublin County Council in 2009 and subsequently re-elected in May of 2014. In the 2011 General Election Gino received 2500 first preference votes and hopes to turn that into a Dáil seat next time around. This time, he received 4629 votes, according to the PNN.
Another candidate who also won, Independent John Halligan, launched his candidacy in January in the presence of Palestinian Authority Ambassador Ahmad Abdelrazek.
“Delighted that Palestinian Ambassador Ahmad Abdelrazek will be attending my #GE16 launch on Friday in the Granville at 7:30pm,” he proudly placed on his Facebook page in January.
Both Kenny and Halligan supported position statements circulated by two Irish-Palestinian solidarity groups.
Sadaka, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, circulated a “pledge” among all 551 candidates, asking them to sign off on the following position points:
- Ireland should formally recognize a Palestinian state;
- Vigorously work to end the blockade of Gaza;
- Seek a EU ban on trade and investment with Israeli colonies/settlements;
- Suspend military export licenses to Israel and public procurements from Israeli arms companies.
- Another organization, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, asked the Irish candidates to commit themselves to working to end bilateral Israel-Irish arms trade, and to suspend the EU-Israel
- Association Agreement.
See IMEMC documentary: ‘Ireland & Palestine’
