Orli Degani

Meet Orli

I’m Orli Degani, the Social Democrats Local Election Candidate for Dún Laoghaire.

I lived, worked, and raised kids in 5 countries in Europe before choosing to settle down in Ireland over 5 years ago.

I am a small business owner here in Dun Laoghaire, a mother of 2 teens, one with disability & special needs, both go to a local community school, I rent, use public transport, love travelling, and eat too much cake.

Helping people and businesses change the way they operate and giving them a new outlook and new ways of doing things has always been my passion and purpose.

I am running for inclusion, innovation, and action. To make sure everyone in our community is seen & heard, promote an innovative environment that supports out-of-the-box ideas and different perspectives instead of “but this is how we have always done things”, and most of all, lead action – I believe we all deserve better, and that together we can, and we should, demand better.

Dun Laoghaire welcomed us with open arms, and in return I want to help make it the best it can be.

Orli’s Priorities

• Housing – derelict houses in Dun Laoghaire, unregistered Airbnbs, lack of social housing, homelessness, lack of available properties, empty office buildings, and mainly the lack of ambition & action from the council to solve the issues they can.
• Public transport – needs massive improvement which can be done by the council but they lack the will to do it, it is not inclusive, and not helping the environment enough.
• Education – mainly the lack of teachers (again due to housing), lack of places for children with disabilities, and lack of secondary community schools.
• Disability – mainly the lack of housing, inclusion, support, treatments and activities for people with disabilities.
• Small business support – while some good work being done by Local Enterprise Office Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, this is still lacking and not relevant for many businesses, and is in the hands of the local council to change.
• Cost of living – affects everyone, and though is mainly a national problem the council is doing nothing to assist residents where it can.
• Services accessibility – a huge problem, because even if the assistance is there most people don’t know about it and can’t access it.