Councillor Michael Conaghan first experienced hard work while growing up on a small farm in his native Co. Donegal. He came from a family of seven children and received his early education locally. “At that time there was very little work to be found, so most of the local people had to leave to find work in England”, he explained. That included his own father and uncles. “There were 28 youngsters in my primary school and 23 of them emigrated to England”.

After completing his Leaving Certificate, he joined his father to find employment in England. There he worked every hour available until he had saved enough to return to Ireland and attend UCD. It was during the years spent across the water that his interest in politics was first sparked. He witnessed first hand the impact people-power can have on how a country is run.

After he completed his studies in UCD he entered teaching. He first came to the local area for professional reasons, to take up a post in Inchicore College of Further Education. That post would last him more than 30 years. Two years ago, he took early retirement. He speaks especially fondly of his time in England “I was very young and it was a very exciting time, there were lots of anti-Vietnam marches, anti-Apartheid and Northern Ireland Civil Rights marches”. He was impressed by the impact of trade unions, “they stood up for the rights of the people, no matter where you came from”. At that time the trade unions were linked to the Labour Party in England, thus he became interested in
politics.

When he first returned home he got involved with a small left-wing group led by the late Deputy Jim Kemmy. This group later merged with the Labour Party on invitation from then leader Dick Spring in 1990. The following year, Michael Conaghan was elected as a member of Dublin Corporation, as it was known as then, it has since become Dublin City Council (DCC). Today Conaghan is a serving member of DCC, he explained that there are a few main areas he focuses on in his efforts to best serve the area. “We must ensure the local parks are well maintained, safe and pleasant for everyone”.

He acknowledges that housing is a major issue, “Getting a home is a basic need, unfortunately there are often great difficulties experienced in this procedure” and finally he notes that although community spirit is always prevalent in Ballyfermot it is not something to take for granted. “In the modern age people often forget about their neighbours - it’s a new way of thinking and it’s not a good thing - I think places like Ballyfermot still retain those old strengths and we need to invigorate and value those things”.

He talks of his satisfaction in changes in council practices taken during his time in office, “I think it’s great that DCC have moved a lot of their staff out into the local areas where people can get direct access to the decision makers, that’s a huge part of democracy”.

When questioned on his opinion regarding the recent medical card debacle he doesn’t hold back, “people are very annoyed and quite dismayed, especially older people because of the cut-backs in medical cards, it was a shameful decision”.

In 2004, Conaghan became Lord Mayor of Dublin. During his time as First Citizen of Dublin he met several foreign dignitaries, “the Emperor of Japan was a stand-out, to be honest the term as a whole was really a great honour”.

Apart from serving the community, Conaghan has an avid interest in local history and heritage and is Chairperson of Inchicore & Kilmainham Heritage Group. When he has a spare minute he writes and researches articles on local history.

After more than 16 years as councillor he still finds his work invigorating. “In the last few weeks €23m worth of new facilities will have been officially opened in Ballyfermot alone, including a new swimming pool and a new arts centre for young people, this is what I love to do its amazingly rewarding to see”.

Conaghan is hoping to continue the good work long after the local elections scheduled for early the new year.