Hospitality lobbyist Adrian Cummins to run in Seanad election
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A high-profile lobbyist for the hospitality sector is to contest the upcoming Seanad election.
Adrian Cummins, the chief executive of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, has confirmed that he will run for the Seanad on the industrial and commercial panel as an Independent candidate.
Mr Cummins previously ran for Fianna Fáil in the 2004 local elections, attempting to take a seat for the party in the Loughrea electoral area in Galway.
More recently, the Seanad candidate has lobbied Government over the restoration of the 9% Vat rate for hospitality businesses — which was not restored in the most recent budget.
Asked if this would be a key focus for him if he was elected, Mr Cummins said that his priorities would be broader than this.
“I would like to be an advocate for small business in the Seanad, to identify the issues that are affecting small businesses across the country,” he said.
Mr Cummins said that he had a more personal reason to get involved in politics again, adding that he wants to work to improve healthcare in Ireland due to his own experience receiving kidney dialysis while awaiting a transplant.
I know full well the challenges that patients go through in terms of kidney dialysis across the State, where they have to travel hours on end per day to get from their home to the treatment centre [to] back home at night.”
He said that there are around 2,000 patients currently on dialysis each year, but that only around 200 receive a transplant — meaning that many are left waiting years.
The former Fianna Fáil candidate said that he opted to run as an Independent due to it giving him more freedom, saying that it would allow him to “speak my mind more openly”.
“Whereas, if you’re within a political party, you’re constrained by the party whip.
“I’m an outspoken person, I say it as it is. I’m a straight shooter and that is the reason I’m going as an Independent.”
Mr Cummins said that he believed there was one Independent seat within the industrial and commercial panel, but that he was “under no illusion” that it would be a difficult election to win.
Asked if this was a first step towards a Dáil run in five years’ time, Mr Cummins said: “You should never rule anything out, and we’ll see how I get on this time around.”