Politics can be difficult to understand, that's why we have asked some important questions to help break it down.
Gerry Carroll – People Before Profit
Mental Health
We are incredibly concerned about the mental health and wellbeing of young people. NUS UK’s Manifesto for our Future found that 46% of students’ mental health has worsened since September 2023. What will you do if elected to tackle the mental health crisis, and safeguard the wellbeing of students and apprentices in Northern Ireland?
Mental health is a huge issue affecting more people than ever and yet resources are not adequately funded or accessible. Mental health professionals are clear that the demand for services cannot be met and the consequences of that can obviously be devastating. But even when the mental ill health we face isn’t life threatening, counselling or other treatment should be readily accessible - that’s the bottom line. I will continue to fight for better funding and for better mental health services within our local NHS.
More generally, as a socialist, I believe that the system we live under which benefits from low wages, precarity, division, and alienation is a key factor in the levels of mental health challenges we face.
When we in People Before Profit talk about a different kind of society and fighting for better living conditions for all, we mean a society where people aren’t just better off personally but our collective needs are met and everyday burdens we face today are alleviated. It is not normal that such a huge increase in mental health pressures among students should exist. We must fight for better resources to treat mental ill-health, but we should also fight to change the conditions which lead to mental ill-health in the first place.
Sexual Health and Education
Our Sexual Health And Guidance campaign has had the most engagement of any of our campaigns in the last two years. Home students from Northern Ireland come to university with very little understanding of safe sex and healthy relationships, which is a huge problem. Whether they are having sex or not, young people must be armed with the tools to make informed decisions about their bodies and their relationships with others. What will you do if elected to ensure that our young people have access to the education and resources they need to make these decisions?
That people are at the age of attending university without an adequate understanding of safe sex and healthy relationships is an indictment on the state of RSE in our schools and more generally. Young people deserve to be educated on not only the changes they will experience as they grow but how their sexual interactions can impact them and others - this should be a very basic and widely accepted sentiment. In particular, it is imperative that we equip young people with a clear understanding of consent and knowledge of STDs because otherwise we are failing to protect them.
I believe that the campaign to eradicate RSE from schools, motivated by right-wing interests, should be challenged and that all RSE should be fully inclusive to ensure all young people, regardless of their gender or sexuality, have equal access. I will vote against attempts to remove or restrict RSE, and fight to improve accessibility to RSE and sexual health advice for all young people.
The Climate Crisis
Time and time again, students have told us how concerned they are about the climate crisis. Many are worried about their future, and the quality of life they can expect to have if this disaster is not averted now. What would you and your party do to tackle the climate crisis?
I am an eco-socialist which means that I root the cause of climate chaos in the man-made impact of our society and want to overhaul it in order to protect the planet and all those who live on it.
We know that the pillaging of our natural resources and the destruction of our environment to support massive overproduction and overconsumption are to blame for much of the climate crises we face. Motivated by profits and an unwavering need to outcompete on the global market, corporations carry the biggest responsibility for this destruction, by far.
So while we in People Before Profit want to see ordinary people change their habits to those which are kinder to the plant - cycling, public transport, recycling, sustainable shopping etc - we ultimately want to stop those corporations doing the most damage because without this, small individual changes will be fruitless.
We want to see an end to drilling for fossil fuels and massive investment in renewable energy and would ban the provision of new drilling licences. We support a Just Transition which would transition climate damaging industries into those which can produce sustainably in a way which improves conditions for the workers involved by reskilling them.
These measures would obviously drastically reduce the damage caused to the planet but also to those of us impacted by air pollution, wildfires, ‘natural’ crises like floods, and more.
Housing and the Cost of Survival
One of the biggest, reoccurring problems we hear about through our UUSU Advice Bureau is housing. From sky-high rents to abysmal quality, the student housing market is a shame to us all. It’s seen as a cliché or some sort of rite-of-passage, but when students are living in mouldy, insect-infested houses and living on tins of beans we need to call it what it is; poverty. What will you do if elected to improve the quality of life for students?
A shame to us all - I couldn’t have put it better myself. We need to get real about housing fast before we end up in a similar situation to Dublin. Indeed, across this island, People Before Profit have campaigned for more and better quality housing to alleviate need and reduce waiting lists.
Unfortunately, the powers that be prefer and fairly often benefit from a housing system which prioritises the profits of landlords and the private sector over the needs of ordinary people.
The result is thousands on waiting lists, substandard housing, sky-rocketting rents, vulture funds mass buying property while people sofa surf, and a failure to build social or affordable housing.
Given the ability, we would engage the public housing system on a mass-building scheme which would not only create housing but also jobs. We would cap rents in local areas, tied to average income. We would ban vulture funds from mass-buying properties. We would introduce much more stringent laws for landlords including the power to take into public ownership properties which have been abandoned, penalties for substandard conditions such as mould, and eviction bans.
Students cannot be treated like animals in cold, damp and mouldy accommodation - it should be illegal.
Israel/Palestine
Students have been paying attention to international policy and conflicts across the globe in recent years, but particularly to what is happening in Israel/Palestine. Please outline your party’s position on the conflict in Gaza.
The apartheid conditions faced by Palestinians will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the worst atrocities committed against humans in our time. This latest genocide is being broadcasted onto our screens 24/7 but we should be clear that this kind of treatment - bombing, murder, infanticide, land grabbing, blocking vital resources like medical supplies - has been happening to different extents for decades.
The aim of this treatment is the eradication of Palestinians in order to create a state of Israel in the vision of Zionism. This isn’t hidden - it is expressly said by officials of Israeli regimes such as representatives of Likud the current ruling party.
Israel is supported in these aims by its ‘allies’ including the most powerful of all, the US, but also the EU and the UK. They have been funded to the tune of billions for decades while human rights abuses have been condemned by organisations whose job it is to identify them.
As an internationalist socialist, I am opposed to settler-colonialism, imperialism and any ideology which promotes the rights of one race or religion over another, such as Zionism. For as long as I can remember, I have been involved in anti-war activism and in challenging the captains of Western imperialism and those who normalise their role in the slaughter of millions for their own aims.
We refuse to go along with the condemnation of Palestinian resistance which is silent on the war crimes of Israel. It is the same hypocrisy we have seen throughout history, levelled at those facing racist or imperialist repression.
This latest genocide should be the final nail in the coffin for this apartheid regime - but a two-state solution which enables the structures of apartheid to remain is not an acceptable outcome. We want to see a state where all people are free and equal, regardless of their religion or ethnicity, and where peace reigns. I join the millions who have taken to the streets, campuses, and in particular the Jewish people who have faced retaliation for supporting this vision.
Apartheid should not be allowed to exist.