I’m 30 years old. As the youngest of all the candidates in Galway West I believe I am best placed to have seen and felt firsthand the heartache my generation has gone through. I have three young children as many of you know. My wife and I have been looking to get on the so-called property ladder but banks continue to demand a 20% deposit. How many families out there are trying to save for this and keep a household going? I also lost my then-job in 2011.

I speak to many couples who are under huge strain with this similar problem. Young families cannot produce this 20%. We, the Irish people, bailed out the banks and kept them alive. Is this ever going to returned in measures to support us?

I hope to be a TD in a number of weeks and believe we need to address this barrier.

Of course supply of properties is slow but as properties begin to come on stream and this 20% barrier is removed and replaced with a lower deposit amount, I believe it will support families further.

I also have friends and neighbours in Canada, America and Dubai who were neglected and ignored over recent years and were forced to emigrate to seek employment, whilst we as a nation offered them Job Bridge. Job Bridge is a farce. Sadly, we all have friends and neighbours who didn’t make it to Canada, America or Dubai and have suffered many mental health difficulties and in some sad cases, suicide.

As an alternative to Job Bridge, I would recommend supporting business in way of tax breaks to create employment so for example, if a business offers a full time contract after periods of 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and finally 24 months the employer receives tax credits from the tax man as a reward for creating and retaining employment. We need to incentivize work, real work for employee and employer.

Other areas such as childcare costs have been real barriers for young families in the Ireland of recent years. If we are to see Ireland thrive again and benefit from my generations skill, knowledge and expertise we need to put mechanisms in place to ensure we retain what’s left and possibly attract more of our friends, neighbours, sons and daughters home and in turn address one area where there has been growth in mental health difficulties.

I live in the real world, I live day to day what many go through. If I didn’t I would not attempt to try represent anybody in any political office. I wholeheartedly believe I can bring these issues to Dublin with a fight and passion they deserve.

Yours etc,

Cllr. Mike Cubbard

Independent candidate Galway

West/South Mayo