GE24, the Candidates: Mark Wall, Labour
Although Senator Mark Wall says it wasn't a given that he would enter politics, it probably was inevitable, writes Brian Byrne. A Labour candidate in this general election, he's making a third attempt for a Dáil seat in Kildare South, which in itself shows the political bug is well embedded in his psyche. Watching his father Jack Wall's lifestyle from the early 1990s as a Senator and TD, he says he was minded to avoid the all the time accessibility that it entailed. "I even saw him being called out on a Christmas Day, when I was young and still living at home," he told the Diary, "so at first I stayed away from it."
He studied Marketing and Business Studies and began a career in the private sector. But 'politics eventually came calling', as he puts it, and he bowed to the inevitable. First helping his father full time in his constituency work around south Kildare and eventually taking the plunge himself in 2009 when he was first elected to both Kildare County Council and Athy Town Council, topping the first preference results in both. He credits a grounding in community activism through his mother's family side that motivated him more than direct political ambition.
"My grandmother was involved in welfare clubs and other community organisations in Castlemitchell, and my mother was similarly involved. So from an early age, I was given a strong sense of community." Visiting the late Joe Bermingham's Castlemitchell shop regularly as a child, was also absorbing the Labour ethic that came with the sweets bought on the way home from school. Bermingham had served as a councillor, and then as a TD for 14 years up to 1987, and was a strong influence on the elder Jack Wall's political progress. "I came up through a tradition of Labour, so maybe it was unavoidable that eventually I would go."
But despite having worked so closely with Jack before that first 2009 run, he still remembers the sense of surprise when he would turn a corner and find his own picture on a telegraph pole. "It's daunting, first time around. But then, elections are always daunting. They take a lot of commitment. But I'm proud of the work I've done since 2009, in a good working partnership with my colleague Labour councillor Aoife Breslin." His most recent local election, in 2019, saw him at the top of the poll still. In the 2024 locals, Cllr Breslin took the top slot, helping also to bring in Mark Leigh.
Being unsuccessful in the general elections of 2016 and 2020 was 'difficult' when Mark Wall didn't get over the line — "and let no one tell you that's it's not difficult when you lose." But a lifetime involvement in sport, which his father Jack had too, gives him both a competitive streak and also the ability to accept defeat graciously. "I will do my very best to win a seat, but I'm a realist, and a democrat, and I have always shaken the hand of the person who did win the seat. And if I don't make it this time, I'll do that again."
Following the 2020 election, he was elected to the Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel. In the upper house he has moved onto more national issues, and has brought forward three bills and co-authored a number of others. He is most proud of his work to bring legislation on gambling up to date, a passion based on seeing the devastation that a gambling addiction can inflict on individuals and their families. "We were working with legislation that goes back to 1954, and despite promises over decades by political parties, including my own, nothing had been done. I've heard stories of people losing their homes, of partners opening letters to learn that the mortgage hadn't been paid for 18 months." The Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 completed its passage through the Irish parliamentary process last month and will likely come into effect in 2025. "We just needed that legislation, and a Gambling Regulator has been established, which is a very important step forward."
No more than for any others in the arena, Wall has relied on support from his family and friends as he plowed his own political furrows. "My wife Michelle has been my rock and support over many, many years. We do this as a family, if you look at any of my canvassing pictures you will see uncles, aunts, cousins." And his father Jack, of course: at the age of 79 he is both his son's Director of Elections and also canvassing with him — they were both out in Kilcullen last week.
The candidate says things are going quite well on the doorsteps. "There's some recognition factor, there are people whom I've managed to help in the past while a councillor, and when they remind you it brings home the difference you can make if you work hard. People do realise that I work hard, that I'm the kind of person that they can go to. There are also people who don't know me, but the response overall is good."
It is in Wall's nature and the ethos he has grown up in to try and help when there are problems. "I'll always try, sometimes I'm not successful. One important thing that I took from Jack is to be honest about it. If you come to me with a problem, I'll work through it, but if I can't fix it I'll tell you that rather than leading you on. I think people understand that and accept that."
As this last week winds down to Friday and the weekend count that will direct Mark Wall's next few years, he's missing one of his key helpers. His and Michelle's youngest son has recently gone to Australia with his girlfriend. "But they're watching from there, I'm getting lovely messages that they're supporting me from the other side of the world. I'm very proud of that, it's something I cherish."
And from somewhere in the spirit of generations, there's a grandmother also quietly nodding her head.
EDITOR NOTE: All the Kildare South candidates were invited to interview by the Diary, to get a sense of the persons behind the posters. Our profiles here are of those who accepted, and we thank them for the time they afforded us.
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