GE24, the Candidates: Monaa K Sood, Green Party

When approached by the Green Party to run in the General Election, Kildare Town resident Monaa K Sood had to make a decision on something she had previously thought about but held back from, writes Brian Byrne. Direct involvement in politics in her adopted country. "Politics is tough," she says. "Even tougher for a woman. And ten times more tough again for women from a minority community."

Born in India and brought up in Kenya, pharmacologist Monaa came to live in Kildare with her doctor husband more than 20 years ago. "Living in Kenya we were getting a lot of phone calls suggesting we should come to Ireland. They were contacting my husband, looking for doctors, offering different kinds of jobs and options. We thought they were hoax calls at first, but eventually my parents said we should go to Europe maybe for a couple of years and experience it and enjoy it. We were young, so we did."

For Monaa and her husband that 'couple of years' has extended to two decades, and Kildare has become a permanent home and place to raise their two children. In recent years, as established immigrants, they became a focus for advice to other new arrivals from a range of backgrounds. "They were people with many concerns, big and small, including where they could find a decent house, or access to a GP." Especially since the covid pandemic that interaction has continued to grow. "When we asked them why they came to us, they said we were here so long, we knew so many people. So it kind of became a natural responsibility for me and my husband to help people who were getting their lives together here."

The prospect of taking that responsibility full time was daunting, especially for someone with small children. But Monaa — who became an Irish citizen in 2011 — is contesting GE24 in Kildare South because she believes that if people are looking up to her, they see a person they can approach, someone they can associate with. "So I thought, whom can I expect to stand for this position if I can't stand up for it myself?"

The ethos of the Green Party aligns largely with the family's own. "Coming from a science background, I knew this is the party I need to be associated with. We have to be mindful of the environment, we have to be mindful of what we're doing. Protecting mother nature is natural to us. We breathe that, you know? We all educate that to our children."

When Monaa and her husband first came to Ireland, it was a pleasant experience. "Ireland was so welcoming. It still is — we have had the best people in our lives, who are Irish and are very good friends. But over 20 years things have changed, and I don't see that warmth any more. I don't know what is happening, I think a lot of integration is needed. To understand that we are all human, just trying to make our livelihoods here."

Canvassing over the last month, Monaa says reaction on the doorstep has been 70 percent positive, while 10 percent 'can be very offensive and abusive'. "The other 20 percent just want us to go away, but I wouldn't say that is offensive." Included in the positive are comments of appreciation such as "you really have guts to stand." She admits that for the first doors of strangers she knocked on, she was terrified. "I was literally shaking on the inside, trying to introduce myself. But as you do it more and more, you get more confident." She believes she is making an impression since she began, given the increasing amount of emails she has been getting and the variety of issues that are being raised. "It's amazing, there is so much that needs to be done in the world."

Among those issues, her priorities include improving housing, supporting small businesses, and promoting education reform. But one is especially close to her heart, emanating from her medical background. "I do not understand, in Ireland as a first world country and a very rich country, why do people have to wait a year and a half to see specialist doctors? Why do we have to wait a week and a half to see GPs? Why do women in the Midlands have to travel to Dublin to deliver children? It's not acceptable. We need a lot more hospitals and doctors and nurses in this country. We can educate more of them, we can hire in more from other countries while we're doing that. The current position is not acceptable and I don't know why that is not being talked about more in the Dail."

A very direct speaker herself, if she is elected, we can expect that this is one subject which will definitely get a wider airing in the 34th Dail.

EDITOR NOTE: All the Kildare South candidates have been invited to interview by the Diary, and in the run-up to polling day we will profile those who accept. 

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