BALLYMURPHY man Stevie Maginn is one of 18 Green Party candidates in the upcoming Assembly election. 

Sitting down with the Andersonstown News this week to set out his stall, Stevie said that his vision for West Belfast is of an area that is better connected to the rest of the city.

“I want to see the areas and communities better connected together, where people can have access to a secure home that is of a good standard and where people can have access to services and the things they need to have a good standard and quality of living.

“I also want us to play our part, as a community in fighting the climate crisis. I believe that the people of West Belfast want to do that. We have seen initiatives like Gairdín an Phobail and things like that pop up but there isn’t enough support available for people to play the role that they want to.”

On connecting the city, Stevie Maginn referred to the recent Belfast Cycle Network plan produced by the Department for Infrastructure and said that it doesn’t go far enough. 

“The problem with it is, it is not fast enough. Every day or week that we wait, another generation of young people get addicted to the cult of the car.

“There is no other viable option and people want to play their part in combatting air pollution. The electorate understand these issues. They are the reasons their loved ones have COPD or asthma. 

“Ultimately the longer we seem to do that, people are going to be affected by poor health outcomes which is unfair and unjust.”

Working in communications for a counselling service, Stevie is keen to promote better relationship and sex education (RSE) within our schools. 

“Relationships are at the heart of our health and wellbeing but I don’t think people really realise the connection,” he said. “Research has shown us that people who have been suffering from mental ill-health or suicidal thoughts, it is usually family breakdown or relationship issues which have led to that.

“We have had RSE since 2007 but the ethos of individual schools means that they can choose what to teach. The effects of that is that lots of young people are reporting to the Belfast Youth Forum that they don’t get any same-sex relationship education, if indeed they are getting any relationship education.

“As a queer person myself and as someone who didn’t get that, I struggled when I was coming of age with my sexuality. I am very passionate about ensuring we have proper RSE, not just for our LGBT+ young people but it can help teach young people about consent and about healthy behaviours. Otherwise they are getting it online and learning from the likes of pornography.”

Stevie said that the lack of proper RSE in schools is contributing to a rise in violence against women and girls and that introducing it to the curriculum could improve the lives of many. 

When asked how his party would propose that the next Executive tackle the current cost of living and fuel crisis, he said he would be weary of parties who promise that they are going to fix this crisis if elected.

“I would argue that these parties have created the cost of living crisis. We have known for decades that we cannot rely on fossil fuels. The planet is unstainable and Ireland doesn’t have any fossil fuel so we are completely dependent on market economics.

“If the price of fuel goes up there is nothing we can do about that. However, we have so much wind and tidal energy.

“Renewables are cheaper, it wasn’t always the case but we have got to the point now where the technology is cheaper and we can support individuals and communities to create and finance community energy projects and retrofitting.

“In West Belfast we have a massive problem with housing waiting lists. What is talked about less is that a lot of people are living in low quality housing. 

“I am from Ballymurphy and there have been plans for a cladding scheme to fight dampness which we have been promised for years.

“By helping families insulate their homes we can reduce our carbon emissions and help keep money in people’s pockets as they are spending less on energy and heating their homes.”

Stevie pointed to a retrofitting plan introduced in the South of Ireland and said that there is already a massive waiting list for the scheme. 

When asked about his party going into coalition with Fianna Fáil in the Dáil, Stevie is open and frank about his initial opposition to the plan. 

“I will be honest, I voted against entering government in the South. I believed that the Programme for Government, while there was lots of pros, it didn’t fit my vision for a just transition.

“However, in the past few months we have seen a number of Green wins such as the Climate Bill in the South and just this week, Minister Eamon Ryan has reduced public transport fares by 20 per cent.

“In the North, the Infrastructure Minster has been proud to say that she has frozen fares, that surprised me that she feels that is a great way of helping people when we are reducing fares in the South.

“The Irish Government have also committed to spending €300m a year on cycling infrastructure. These are things that are supporting people with the cost of living, helping them live healthier and happier lives and they wouldn’t have happened without the coalition government.”