On Friday, Aubrey McCarthy was elected to the final seat of the Trinity Seanad panel, beating 13 other candidates to take the seat held for over three decades by Senator David Norris, by then vacant for over a year.
“That’s a ‘pinch me’ moment,” McCarthy told Trinity News of succeeding Norris, whom he described as a “trailblazer”.
“It was a long three days,” McCarthy said of the election count, which took place in the Exam Hall between Wednesday and Friday last week.
“I’m over the moon and delighted.”
“They talk about education – I have [helped] 92 people into third level college from homelessness and addiction with SETU, up to master’s level.”
“They talk about healthcare – I opened up three different rehabilitation centers to work with people that are vulnerable and in addiction. So I’ve done a lot of this stuff, and so I believe I can do this.”
McCarthy is chairman of no less than four separate organisations which seek to help people in need: Tiglin, which he founded in 2009, Tivoli Training Centre, Bluebell Community Council, and the South Western Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force.
“[Someone who maybe] wouldn’t take my phone call before, now you’ll sort of go, ‘Okay, what’s this fella got to say?’ So maybe it gives me more of a voice.”
“I come from a difficult enough upbringing that I know that changes have to be made, and I believe that I will put my best foot forward to make those changes.”
He remains optimistic that the many crises facing the Irish government, chief among them housing, can be solved: “I believe it can be fixed. We’re the wealthiest we’ve ever been.”
“And the numbers were talking about – even though they’re horrendous – it’s fixable. You and I took in 100,000 Ukrainians almost three years ago. We housed them all. We gave them an allowance. So if we’re able to do that, we can do this.”
McCarthy stops short of saying the current government has failed on housing, saying they have been “caught in a perfect storm” of factors contributing to the crisis, including the rising costs of building. However, he highlighted the issue of vulture funds buying up properties as a problem which could be better tackled by government: “If you could refocus approved housing bodies to be able to buy that property, I think that’s a game changer.”
Immigration has emerged in the media as a divisive issue in Irish politics over the past year. McCarthy believes that vulnerable people of both Irish and international backgrounds can be supported simultaneously without the need for division.
“I always think a great leveller is to go down to my homeless cafe on Pearse Street [the Light House Cafe run by Tiglin]. We feed 500 a day there. You’ll meet Tommy, who’s from Ringsend, but you’ll also meet Mohammed, and Mohammed’s missing an eye because he lost it in Gaza. And we’re marching up and down saying, ‘free Palestine’ – so when Mohammad comes here, we can’t turn our back on him.”
On the issue of Palestine, McCarthy was thankful for the recent ceasefire agreement which brought a pause to the bloodshed in Gaza seen since 7 October 2023.
While uncertain about the specific steps to be taken by the Irish government, he emphasises the devastating effects the war has had: “I meet the victims of that war every day of the week through the Light House Cafe. And they are real, real victims. So it’s not a victimless war.”
Asked about whether he would bring pressure from the Seanad to reintroduce the Occupied Territories Bill, which has reportedly been shelved by government to avoid tariffs on Irish goods entering the US, McCarthy said he would like to see the cabinet’s alternative proposal to the Bill.
“I’m excited to see peace, but I’m also looking forward to see, how do we stop this happening again in 10 years and and also to make sure that there’s not hypocrisy on behalf of the Irish government, to make sure that we don’t pick sides when it suits us.”
Contrary to some views that it should be abolished, McCarthy believes “the potential in the Seanad is like a sleeping giant”, pointing to the important work of individuals such as David Norris, who was elected when homosexuality in Ireland was still illegal, and Fergal Quinn who successfully passed contract legislation through the Seanad.
“However, I will say it needs to be reformed. [At the moment], you’ve got 1,000 people voting for 43 of the seats. How is that democratic?”
With the passage of recent legislation in the wake of a landmark legal case, this is the last ever form of the Trinity-specific Seanad panel. From 2026, Trinity graduates, along with graduates of other higher education institutions who hold Irish citizenship, will elect six Senators to a general higher education panel.
Even with these changes, McCarthy is sceptical of the requirement of earning a degree to vote in the Seanad: “That’s questionable in the extreme. I think one man, one vote, and I think everybody should have a vote in the Seanad.”
Nonetheless, he is grateful for the support of the Trinity community, not just in this election.
He highlights particularly the invaluable support of Trinity students and alumni in the establishment and running of the Light House Cafe, just across the street from campus.
“I don’t know if it would have happened if it was near UCD or near somewhere else, but I’ll tell you, it’s happening on Pearse Street because of across the road. There’s something special about Trinity College.”
