Joe Loughnane, a leading anti-racism campaigner in Galway city, has been selected as People Before Profit's Galway West candidate for the 2020 General Election.
Mr Loughnane is the chair and co-founder of the Galway Anti-Racism Network, and a member of both the Galway-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Galway Pro-Choice. He has also worked with housing and anti-water charges organisations. He stood in May's local elections for People Before Profit, in Galway City Central, where he took 376 first preferences, rising to 467 and lasting until the fifth count.
.
He was this week selected to run for the party in next year's general election. Speaking at the selection convention, PBP branch spokesperson Jessica Forde, said; “Joe is not a career politician. He was working tirelessly as an activist before the 2019 local elections and has been doing so since then. He has also been working closely with various groups in an anti-racist capacity. With the infiltration of far-right activity across the country, and in particular into rural areas in Galway, like Oughterard, Joe has shown he isn’t afraid to stand up to these groups to defend a lot of the most vulnerable people in our society.”
Mr Loughnane said that, if elected, he would bring principled, socialist solutions to the Dáil that would benefit working people. “It isn’t enough for modern socialists to just point the finger at problems," he said. "You have to bring solutions to the table. And whether it’s around housing, transport or the environment, we believe People Before Profit have the policies that will give Galway the best chance of turning the tide on these issues.”
