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TOM CURRAN, THE partner of right-to-die campaigner Marie Fleming, will run as an independent candidate for Wicklow County Council this May.
The former IT professional has a national profile as a result of the couple’s courts campaign, which ignited a national debate last year on the subject of end-of-life care. And while the health service and the caring sector are his main areas of experience, Curran says he doesn’t want to present himself as a single-issue candidate.
Curran has teamed up with independent TD Stephen Donnelly for the campaign, and if elected, says he’ll also will work to promote tourism in the county, and to help projects like the regeneration of Arklow town.
In an in-depth interview with TheJournal.ie, the campaigner spoke of his life with Marie before and after her illness, his family’s feelings on his decision to run for election, and his plans to launch the next phase of a national right-to-die campaign.
On deciding to run…
The whole thing really started before Marie died.I’ve been always been involved in community politics – not so much around where I live now, because most of my time living there has been spent looking after Marie – but in years gone by I was active in things like the Dublin Housing Action Committee back in the ’70s.
I made a lot of contacts on her campaign for the right to a peaceful death and a death at a time of her choosing… and she suggested that I should get involved in local politics again, or community politics. The election came up, and after she died I made a decision that that’s probably what I’d do.
It’s obviously been a very traumatic time for yourself and for your family. Have your own family members raised any concerns on whether you’re up to the task?
No. I think I’m strong enough. I gave January to myself… I’m not saying that I haven’t finished grieving – I don’t think I’ll finish grieving for years, and I don’t think anybody does – but yes I am up to it.I have the strength, and I think that I’ve learnt a lot both in working with carers and on behalf of carers in bringing Marie’s issue out there. Lots of people have said to me that that my natural progression should be into politics.
As you face into a public role, you’re likely to be asked about Marie’s ordeal again and again – by interviewers, by people on doorsteps – is it something you’re ready to do? Is it something you’re willing to do?
There are parts of it that are very private between myself and Marie – and there are things that I won’t talk about but I suppose it’s out in public already that Marie did die peacefully, which was one of the things she had been campaigning for for years.It was a very difficult year for us because Marie got her first infection – her first serious infection – of last year on Saint Patrick’s night, and it never really shifted since then. She had quite a difficult year and her health was progressively going downhill.
No matter how much you prepare yourself in your head you can never prepare yourself in the heart for something like that – but yes, I do think I’m up to it, and I do think I’ve learnt a lot over the last couple of years. I would be a good person to represent the people of South Wicklow.
[Niall Carson/PA Archive]
By the nature of how the media works, people’s awareness of your campaign and the ordeal you and Marie went through may be a little narrow. Can you tell us a bit more about your life together? What was your own professional background, for instance, before you became a full time carer?
Well we met more or less professionally. I was in IT most of my life, and Marie was in education. She had moved back from Wales after her marriage broke up to live in Wicklow. She was having a problem with an IT system and somebody recommended that I come in and talk to her.It was just one person helping another and that’s how it started. We met and we seemed to get on very well. We were both separated or both divorced and probably lonely, but we just seemed to get on very well right from the start.
[Family handout]
What’s your viewpoint now looking back on how you were treated by the State – by the courts and by the HSE? Is there any bitterness?
No, I’m not a bitter sort of person. I learn from things that happen and I take those things to go forward. I don’t think that there’s any benefit in eating yourself away with bitterness, but I have learnt a lot over the years.It’s unfortunate that people like myself, as carers, that feel that we’re doing something we should have a partnership with the State with, who are looking after a person in their own home where the person wants to be, rather than in a nursing home which would cost the State a fortune – that the State regards us as unemployed, and just won’t give us the help that’s needed. That’s been one of my campaigns for years.
Now that I’ve my caring role finished – in an instant, I’m regarded as long-term unemployed. Now to me that is despicable – I worked very hard, I was working every hour that I was awake on Marie’s behalf and on the State’s behalf, but that’s not recognised and that’s something that I have been campaigning about for a long time.
What supports would have been available to you as a carer in rural Wicklow in the last few years?
Nothing that wasn’t fought for. Nobody comes and volunteers – but the same applies to most situations in South Wicklow.From getting involved and trying to look for assistance for myself and other carers, one of the things that I found is that the area is practically ignored, and the representation from South Wicklow has not been strong enough. That’s one of the reasons why I want to go forward, because I think I have a strong voice – I’m used to shouting, and I’m used to shouting until something happens.
[Niall Carson/PA Archive]
How much can you do as a member of a council? Is it a matter of having a platform to continue your national campaign?
No, I think there’s an awful lot that can be done locally… Even last night, for instance, I was at a meeting of the Arklow business people – they’re calling themselves the Arklow Business Association – and that’s a group of people getting together in Arklow to try to bring the town back to where it used be.To me that’s the heart of things – organisations like that should have direct contact with councils, and the councils should have direct contact with the Dáil. Its organisations like that I think that will get the country back together again.
You’ve talked about how you don’t want to be seen as a single-issue candidate, so what are some of the wider issues in the community that need to be looked at?
Well the right-to-die situation and the carers are national issues, and I’ll continue to work on those. I’m a board member of the Carers Association, and I’ll continue that work, but I’m going forward on local issues – for instance, the regeneration of Arklow and tourism in south Wicklow, which is one of the most beautiful parts of the country.Employment is a huge issue – all that I’ve heard of since we moved there twenty years ago is places closing down… The whole of south Wicklow has become a commuter belt – we need to regenerate it, and one of the industries that is right at our doorstep is tourism. There doesn’t seem to be anything being put into that.
So, no I’m going not going on national issues such as the right to die – that’s a totally separate issue… But I live in south Wicklow, Marie and I fell in love with south Wicklow… I’ve lived there for a long-time and see it going further and further down, so and I want to try to contribute to getting it back up again.
Tom Curran, Stephen Donnelly TD and Jennifer Whitmore, who’ll run in Greystones [Stephen Donnelly campaign]
You’re working with the independent TD for the area, Stephen Donnelly. What’s the arrangement there? Is it the beginnings of a party?
It’s not really… It’s not a party, no. I suppose I had said at one stage before that I was thinking of going for the Council – I was approached by political parties, but I had been talking to Stephen on the subject of the Carer’s Strategy and about other things for carers, and also on the right to die situation… He was in a position to ask questions, and he has been co-operating with me on both of those for a long-time.I happened to mention it to him that it was very difficult for an individual like me to put themselves forward without a ‘machine’. He said ‘well if you need help, I’ll give it to you’, and that’s how it came about.
Looking at your national campaign on the right-to-die issue, what’s the next step there?
Its not an issue that’s going to be tackled very quickly. It’s very difficult to see any of the political parties that are going to be in power – with this Dáil or the next Dail – having the guts to tackle it head on, so I think it’s going to be a slow process.I have put together a working group of four barristers and we’re drafting legislation to be presented to the Dáil. There are various ways of presenting that to make sure that it’s not just immediately thrown out, and that’s what we’re working on at the moment - an intelligent long-term campaign rather than a quick burst and it going nowhere.
(Video TheJournal.ie) Tom Curran on his draft right-to-die legislation
Finally — if you don’t get the Council seat, what then? Would you run for the Dáil?
Well, I initially thought of running for Europe but more for a publicity issue, as a right-to-die candidate. That was more a passing whim than anything else, I didn’t take it any further than that.If I do get into the Council I would take that obligation very seriously and I feel that I am a representative, not just a person with my own ideas… I take from what people want, and try to get that achieved and I would take it very seriously – I’d be very reluctant to leave halfway through that and go for something else.
If I don’t get into the Council then there’s a while left – well theoretically there’s a while left – before the Dail dissolves… And yes, I would give consideration to going as a local TD.
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Tom, I wish you every success
Plantation Watch: Despite your protestations you are still tuning in to the “soap box”????
Anyhow Mr Curran deserve’s our full support as people like him who care for family members for life save you the taxpayer millions every year by bailing out the HSE & the state and Ireland is full of to the brim with care people like him who don’t get the recognition they deserve. As Mr.Curran represents the forgotten makes this a good vote!
Are you going to interview every candidate running in the Wicklow election or does just Tom great this free publicity ?
very true Emlyn. The ‘Journal’ – & the rest of the Irish media – will be pushing this ‘right to die’ issue, non stop.
Total propaganda.
you can always go to another website if you don’t like it you know!
It’s not as if you’re forced to read it at gunpoint or something.
You can go somewhere else for your news or you could just sit there and whinge.
Whichever you feel is more productive!!
Another question is how are we expected to see a decline in suicides if we are going to legislate to assist people to commit suicide?
there is a difference between drafting legislation and actually passing it you know?
He is going to draft legislation for the government to look at and perhaps debate.
The government is not legislating for assisted suicide!!
The journal is becoming little more than a soapbox for various leftoids and their causes.
Has that man not suffered enough without having to experience what goes on in a county council chamber?
Glad to see he’s running as an Independent.
Best of luck Tom! Good to see someone standing up for carers! I was for many years! Reckon we saved the state a lot! Now I can’t even sign credits as I’ve been ‘unemployed’ for so long so can’t even look after my pension rights!
Does this mean that every person who has ever suffered heartache from the loss of a loved one, have the right to become a political candidate. What qualifications do they have, a degree in politics NO, experience in Social Policy NO. Public relations Eh No. I appreciate the mans gone through a tough time. But so have a lot people. The Journal is now pushing this agenda, really are they going to give equal time to other candidates, I seriously doubt it. This is what’s wrong with bloody country, become a politician just because your father was or because you have been in the media. Fair and balanced journalism really????
Everybody has the right to try to become a political candidate.
Really, we barley have enough competent politicians currently representing us. Let’s get ex boxers and other unqualified people to represent us. Great idea. I must get it a go sometime in between making breakfast and dinner.
Incompetent.
Everybody has a right to run in elections. That is what our so called democracy is all about. What qualifications do most of the shower we have had in over the last 20 years, and ran this country down the drain, have? I include the current lot in this this who lived the good life in opposition while they watched the others destroy us ,without a whimper from them. Its really senior uncivil servants who run the show and politicians seem to cowtow to them. This lot had an option to be different and have failed miserably. Remember ” ITS Labours way and not Berlins way”–yeAH right!!! It is good that someone like Tom is running–at least he conducted his life latterly guided by passionately held beliefs and everyday struggles -not creaming off the taxpayer like most of those in the Dail.
To echo Nelly – can you point to a qualified representative in the Dail at present? How many of them did political science?
And if you don’t like him – you know what? You don’t have to vote for him. That’s kind of how the whole voting thing works.. He’s only choosing to run – lots of people run and don’t get elected you know..
That’s the problem, we don’t need more of the same nonsense. I am from Wicklow and I know very much about Toms struggle, the point is that he will change absolutely nothing. There are many people I know who have had people taken from them, whether it’s Sudden Adult Death, Suicide or whatever. The issue is, what have you got to offer and what are you going to change. This country needs, no deserves more than a media story representing us.
I take it you wouldn’t vote for him so..
Standing for election is a far cry from being elected – he needs votes for that. And each persons vote is their own. If the people of Wicklow choose him then that is their business.
Yes we have all lost people, sudden adult death is a million miles from dying with multiple sclerosis or any of the other excruciatingly painful way to die, and that’s not what this was about (sudden adult death – the clues in the name – it’s sudden, then it’s over). Suicide is usually undertaken by a person with the capacity to do so, and is also sudden. This mans wife had deteriorated to a point where even though she wanted to commit suicide she no longer could – she couldn’t even feed herself FFS.
The fact that you are even comparing these things shows you don’t really get the point of assisted suicide.
Shanti your comments represent nothing more than an absolute ignorance. The fact that you would say that SADs and Suicide are nothing compared to what his wife suffered. Well I lost a brother to SAD and friends to Suicide, now do you really think that because his wife suffered over a longer period of time that she suffered more. Go an educate yourself you silly ignoramus. I and my family live everyday with the fact our brother was snatched from our lives without any notice. And for your information when someone is dying slowly the grieving process is completely different as you are preparing your goodbyes. Now did we run out and want become independent politicians NO we grieved and raised money for SAD awareness. And your right my vote is my vote and I would not hand that over to someone out of pity or feeling sorry for them. Yes you can run and NO maybe you won’t get elected. However my point in all of this is that the utter crap of pushing individuals to represent the people of Wicklow should be based on more than a sob story. Now I suggest you think before you spew your comments about which YOU obviously no NOTHING about. Idiot
I didn’t say they were nothing – I said that the physical pain, the loss of ability over your own mind and body are different – nice hat you have on that straw man of yours.
You are quick to reach for the personal attacks, I hope that you realise this adds nothing to your argument. Obviously you have become defensive reading my post as you have clearly taken it out of context and added your own inferences to what I said that are not there.. This man is seeking to continue on in his wife’s crusade, perhaps he sees it as honouring her memory, whether he gets elected or not is the voters choice. Perhaps you have decided in the wake of your loss to advocate for mental health causes, or do the darkness into light walk for pieta house? Which – while not the same as running for election, are done from a similar place.
I’m sorry for your loss, but there’s really no need to start throwing around personal insults. We’re both adults I presume?
Shanti stop back tracking and re read your post and mine for that matter, if you had you would see my point and it was never personal towards him I suggest before you throw around ignorant comments about any type of life and death situations you would at least understand them. Goodbye
Er, my original point to you was that you don’t have to vote for him, and his decision to run in no way guarantees that anyone will vote for him.
You started throwing in sudden adult death syndrome – which I too have lost friends to, and suicide – which I have more than enough personal experience of, why you would assume I have not experienced this I do not know. I tried to explain that sudden adult death syndrome comes with no indication (a far cry from a slowly progressing deterioration) or a suicide which the person carries out themselves – a person with something like advanced multiple sclerosis is not capable of doing. Suicide is also something that is done quickly, because no one wants a slow painful death when they choose it.
You seem to have made some major leaps past that, claiming I somehow dismiss the pain and anguish leading to suicide, or the grief one feels following the loss – and resorted to personal attacks, not against Tom, against ME. This was what I meant, if you would care to read what I said rather than what you wish to see.
R.I.P Santa
I agree with Tom the HSE are an absolute failure in ref: to carers & the state provide neither recognition to the endurance of people such as himself & my mother-in-law in taking caring of patients with long-term illness/disability. However my major concern is if assisted suicide/euthanasia is implemented into law the HSE will devalue my brother-in-law even further deeming him a burden on the state & will neglect to provide help/ provision even more just look at the UK in ref: to the Liverpool Care Pathway. The Liverpool Care Pathway was supposed to be a programme providing pallative care for the dying but opened the gateway to leaving treatable patients to starve & dehydrate. When people are intellectually impaired the state will step in & choose for them.
The point of “right to die” legislation is not for someone else to make the decision for you. It is for people to make their own decisions about how they choose to end their lives – allowing a third party to administer it if their diseases progression prevents them from doing so.
For example – if someone requests assisted suicide they must undergo evaluation to ensure that they can fully understand the implications of the action. If their disease involves mental decline they must make their application before the decline renders them incapable of making the decision. Their families cannot choose it for them.
As far as dehydration and starvation goes, are you aware that many people at the end of their lives choose this? They start refusing meals because it’s the only way they have to try and speed up their end. These people are then put on saline drips and force fed, using peg feeders – which they pull out if they can causing themselves even more suffering. All because they have decided they cannot go on anymore. It’s heartbreaking to watch a person do this to themselves. All because some people think that their morals matter more than the person actually living it’s feelings.
#get
We need to move away from candidates that run on a singular issue. Hopefully he has more strings to his bow. If not, I likely wouldn’t vote for him.
The issue of assisted suicide is one worthy of debate, and imo, legislation too. However, it can be achieved without a dail or council seat.
Agreed, candidates need a more rounded platform on which to run, single issues are just that – an advocacy group may have been a better channel for his energy than an election.. It’s a lot of money to sink into a likely failure.
My point exactly Sam, this country has many issues and I for one have had it up too neck, trying to run a business, raise family and survive. And the only options for change are what the media choose to focus. I wish him all the best but the time for giving people votes because they have had rough time is gone. Show me you credentials, tell me your plans and tell me you understand finance and are socially conscious about more than what you hold personally.
One would hope that most voters would ask for the same. Like I said, it is a lot of money to sink into what is most likely to be a failure to get a seat. People have run on far wider issues and still just lost money.
You won’t vote for him, I wouldn’t vote for him – but he has the right to run if that’s what he feels he must do.
The voters of Wicklow have voted in some numpties in the past – but they have also voted in the likes of Stephen Donnelly, so there may be hope yet that more people are voting based upon actual issues than single ones.
have your say