Press Release: Labour’s Looney Claims "Biggest and Best Online Campaign in Ireland"

Dermot Looney, a Labour Party candidate in the Tallaght Central ward in June’s local elections, has said that his online campaign is the 'biggest and best' out of several thousand local election candidates in Ireland. Looney has said that the Internet campaign has been a hugely successful way to engage young people and those traditionally left behind in politics.

Looney established an online presence more than a year ago and, as well as a traditional website at dermotlooney.com, he maintains a daily-updated election diary on his blog, "The Looney Left." His campaign group on Facebook has more than 400 members, the majority of whom live in Tallaght Central, and he is also active on Twitter, as well as campaigning on Bebo and Youtube and the photo site Flickr.

Looney, 26, is the youngest candidate running for South Dublin County Council and his spent little money on the online side of the campaign, instead relying on word of mouth, social networking and traditional leaflets to attract voters to the various online platforms.

"No other candidate in South Dublin has dedicated as much in terms of resources or effort to online campaigning, even though we come to the field without the big money of the major two parties," said Looney. "I believe our online campaign is the biggest, best and brightest of any local election candidate in Ireland, and recent innovations such as frequent use of Twitter and a daily election diary have been attracting voters from across the area to our campaign and our message of change and community."

"Online campaigning is most effective when it has the politics to go along with it. That's why those who don't tend to be reached by traditional canvassing - young people and those living in apartment blocks - are readily identifying with our campaign. Nothing will ever replace knocking on doors, dropping leaflets and other traditional methods, but online campaigning will continue to increase in influence in the years to come."

"Our experience online is that local people are hugely receptive to web campaigning, a point worth keeping in mind with the further rollout of e-government by the Council. Most importantly, we need to make sure such development brings with it those left behind by the information gap - particularly the elderly and those without the resources, skills or literacy to truly engage at present."

ENDS

For more, see details below.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dlooney
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/dermotlooney
Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/VoteLooney
Website: http://www.dermotlooney.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36150395175
Blog: http://thelooneyleft.blogspot.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10679554@N07/

Gilmore for Taoiseach!

Last week I created a group called "Gilmore for Taoiseach" on Facebook.

Already, over 200 people have signed up. But we want this to grow to tens of thousands so we can change the script - it's not just a choice between FF and FG. Here's the blurb for the group, which you'll find here.

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People in Ireland want change. We are fed up - not just of a Government who have dropped us into a spiralling recession, but of conservative politics and right-wing economics. Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael party offer little different to the status quo.

The real alternative is Labour. The Labour Party has the ideas, the values and the policies to get Ireland back working.

Eamon Gilmore TD, Labour's leader, has the highest approval rating of any Irish political leader and is leading the charge for a third option in Irish politics.

That third option rejects neoliberal economics and the greed of the speculators, developers and bankers who have caused the unprecedented hardship we are now in.

That third option proposes positive solutions to get our economy back going - an economic stimulus package which will put tens of thousands back to work and a taxation system which closes off the developer loopholes and avoidance scams.

That third option stands for better public services - health, education, transport and housing. And it stands for a politics of fairness and equality above all else.

That third option is Labour. Eamon Gilmore can break Civil War politics by becoming the first ever left-wing Taoiseach in Ireland. Get active with Labour at www.labour.ie/join - and play your part in creating that history.

Press Release - Tallaght’s Youth Saying “Yes We Can” to Change: Labour candidate Looney

Tallaght's Youth Saying "Yes We Can" to Change: Labour candidate Looney

Dermot Looney, the Labour Party candidate in Tallaght Central for next year's local election, has said that Barack Obama's victory in the US Presidential election has given a huge boost to local young people who are demanding real political change. Looney, who worked on the Obama campaign in Virginia, was speaking after accepting a donation from Labour Youth at their annual conference in Limerick on November 8th.

Looney, the youngest candidate in the county yet declared at 26, has been a leading light in various student and youth campaigns over a number of years and has led the rejuvenation of Labour Youth in Dublin South West since joining the party in 2003.

A former Development Officer of UCD Students' Union, Looney is now working with students in Tallaght IT and young people across Tallaght, Greenhills and Templeogue in building a local Labour Youth organisation to campaign for what he has termed 'the real alternative' for the local area.

One of the key tools in their campaign is the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, a method used to great success in the recent US election, which has already attracted 250 local people to Looney's campaign group.

"I was lucky enough to spend a few days working on the Obama campaign in Virginia just prior to the election," Looney told the conference. "The inspiration and ideas generated by that campaign have resonated across the world, including the huge support and goodwill shown towards Obama by young people here at home."

"The model promoted by the Obama campaign can't be copied in an entirely different political landscape. But young people across Ireland who are desperate for real change have been inspired by the message of hope shining through in dark times."

"As well as being fired up by the idealism within the Obama campaign, young people are also looking for the change we need here at home – the change we need to break the politics of a long-gone Civil War, and the change we need in the issues which matter most to young people – jobs, education, health and housing."

Looney received a donation of €1,000 towards his campaign from Labour Youth's fundraising efforts at the Limerick conference, and asked the delegates to be positive about the change Labour's new generation can affect across Ireland. "Yes we can change Ireland and change the world. But the change we need begins here at home, and here in Tallaght Central we want to build on our success as the youngest election campaign in Ireland by growing our organisation and winning for ordinary people across the generations."

Looney, who will speak at an anti-fees meeting organised by IT Tallaght Labour in early December, has encouraged secondary school and college students, young workers and all local people under 26 to join with Labour Youth, which has seen its numbers boosted considerably in the recent economic and political tumult.