Meet Megan: “My son wears a corrective eye-patch and I got him a children’s book where one of the characters in the story wears an eye-patch and he was so delighted to see himself represented in the book. Likewise, we need to see more women and more diversity on our county councils- it needs to be more representative of the society we live in.”
When Megan Flynn Dixon moved to Ireland from her native New Zealand four years ago little did she think that she would end up considering running for Local Election in the Gort/Kinvara area of County Galway. She was however “horrified” by the lack of diversity on county councils in rural Ireland in particular and decided she needed to throw her hat into the political arena.
The 44-year-old mother of two is originally from Christchurch in New Zealand and she worked in international shipping before she met her Athlone born husband and decided to relocate to Ireland. Now based in Craughwell, County Galway, Megan works as a self-employed consultant for small business and not for profit sector. She had experience of working with various voluntary and community groups in New Zealand and decided to join some community groups in County Galway. A member of the Galway PPN, Megan is now a representative for the Community and Culture SPC and was part of the team which saw the reformation of the Galway Intercultural Forum.
“When I joined the PPN, I was horrified by the lack of diversity. In New Zealand we have an indigenous population and a huge Asian population, so I was used to much more diversity and shared authority for Government agencies. If you walk down the street in Galway, you will see the range of diversity but you don’t see that population mix being reflected in the make-up of county councils or other Government bodies. Patriarchy is so self-sustaining and persistent. I was just horrified by the lack of diversity. Initially, I didn’t think I would get involved in politics, but I felt compelled because I felt if I didn’t nothing was going to change for my children,” said Megan.
"I find SHESchool excellent- it is really manageable and very flexible with four different time options for classes"Megan is now a member of the Green Party and she has decided to run for Local Election in the Gort/Kinvara area of County Galway. “I find SHESchool excellent- it is really manageable and very flexible with four different time options for classes which allows you to join a class at a time which suits you. Both Michelle Maher and Kathleen O’ Meara are great. Kathleen fires questions at us like a hot potato but it really makes you think about things,” laughed Megan.
In order to find out more about the online classes and workshops with SHESchool and See Her Elected contact info@seeherelected.ie or log onto www.seeherelected.ie or call 086 0320455.
