Noel Thomas is a Fianna Fáil candidate wrapped in Independent Ireland Clothing
People Before Profit’s Galway West candidate Denman Rooke has said that Noel Thomas’s support for short term rentals is proof that he’s essentially a Fianna Fáil candidate wrapped in Independent Ireland clothing.
Threshold figures show that for every private rental in Galway there are 9.5 short term lets. Galway Simon Community has suggested that the reported 640 people living in emergency accommodation across Galway, Mayo and Roscommon is only the tip of the ice berg, with the charity supporting 1,277 adults and 455 children in 2025 alone.
Yet Noel Thomas has vocally and passionately opposed the Short Term Lets Bill, which would create a register of all short term lets properties. The bill also aims to encourage long term rentals at a time when so many property owners are trying to cash in on lucrative short-stay tourism.
Commenting on the reports, Rooke reflected that “It seems that Thomas is committed to keeping people out of homes”.
Rooke continued, “After all, this is the man who watched Fianna Fáil’s austerity measures take away people’s homes, and decided he wanted to be a Fianna Fáil representative. This is the man who was part of the political establishment that brought us to this crisis for 10 years. This is the man who opposed the construction of social housing in his constituency of Moycullen. And this is also the man who insisted “the in is full” in Rosscahill, while rationalising the arson attack on a hotel ear-marked for asylum seekers”.
Rooke added that Thomas is emblematic of a party that postures as anti-establishment, but ultimately delivers more of the same. “They’re a status quo party,” said Rooke, “which is why they offer no real coherent vision for the future, and will only pipe up when they think there’s political mileage in it”.
A vote for Independent Ireland is a vote for Fianna Fáil 2.0. Vote Left Transfer Left to stop the theft.