Speakers’ Corner: Jack Commons

Jack Commons APR24

ith the local elections set for Friday, June 7th, we have once again sent out our Speakers’ Corner questionnaire to the local wide-eyed hopefuls.

Starting with the 11 candidates running in the Greystones Electoral Area, we’ll then open the floor to the other 6,439 upstanding Wicklow citizens currently stepping into the ring for 2024.

Up for grabs, 32 councillor seats across this great county of ours, with all the hopes and dreams – plus prestige, pressure, resentment, ridicule and mediocre pay – that such an exalted position entails.

Suffice to say, there are plenty of candidates to choose from, from the strong, silent types who simply, quietly get on with their work in the community to the loud, social media-shagging self-promoters who seem to leave little time for any actual graft. We’ve been reporting on this town daily for 12 years now, and the one thing we’ve become very, very wary of is the black arts of stolen valour. Feckers sticking their flag in other people’s hard work by racing to share the good news first on Facebook, Instagram and beyond, slyly hoovering up all the likes, thanks and praise in the process. It’s akin to waiting at the finish line and throwing your arm around the winner for a quick selfie, owning their victory online before they’ve even had time to catch their breath.

With Zoe and their son, Ollie APR24

So, whatever your party loyalties and your political leanings, it’s worth taking a moment to look beyond the glitter. These people will be your eyes and ears – and big mouth – down in Wicklow County Council, after all.

In the meantime, on with Speakers Corner 2024, and Fianna Fáil’s Jack Commons. First, a quick bio…

Jack with dad, Larry, and younger brother, Brian

Greystones native Jack Commons is a secondary school teacher, who has taught in schools in Kilcoole and Bray. His extended family have been an integral part of Greystones, Kilcoole and the surrounding areas for many years. As well as education, Jack has been involved in sports clubs like Éire Og, Greystones Rugby Club, Greystones United FC and local athletics clubs.

He lives in Delgany Wood and says he has “strong family roots”. As a young parent, he said he knows too well the challenges that people face in acquiring homes and securing childcare and school places.

And now for those insightful, revealing and deceptively simple Guide questions…

What inspired you to become involved in local politics? Was there a Road To District Council moment…?
I have always had a strong interest in politics. A political career is something that has been at the back of my mind for some time. My friends are forever telling me that I need to run for council election as I’m forever ‘networking’, as they call it, talking to people, but more importantly I’m also listening to them. I’m forever looking to help people and seeing their issues and problems in their lives and in the area around me and wondering how I can help in solving them, in changing things.

I went to college for 8 years. I undertook three different degrees and in each of them I ended up being the class rep or sitting on the student council. I was always confident in speaking up for the people I represented. I never shied away from getting my opinion, and the opinion of my classmates across to management. It was a great experience, a steep learning curve and a great introduction into the broader political world.

Last January I was presented with the young entrepreneur of the year award by Councillor Gerry Walsh and this is when the initial discussions were had, the initial decisions were made and the wheels of my campaign began to roll.

Life is very busy at the moment with working full time, having a baby and running a campaign, but when the opportunity arose I had to decide whether to push it out down the line a little, or endeavour to get a seat on the next Greystones Council. I decided to grab the opportunity with both hands and go for it

With Gerry Walsh JUNE23

Of your work so far, are there particular achievements that you are particularly proud of?
Having not been elected yet I can’t talk directly on council decisions or actions in the town but I have been heavily involved in the local community my whole life. Having been brought up in Grattan Park, I spent my youth playing on every possible sports team. I was on successful GAA, soccer, athletics, rugby and even baseball teams in the town. I have always tried to get fully involved in my community. As I grew up in Greystones, I ended up starting my own business which I hope had a positive impact on the town from a business point of view.

When I was 21, I set up a language school in Greystones called the JC Language School. I brought in over 300 Spanish students to Greystones, all of whom stayed with local host families for the summer months. I hired all local people as teachers. We rented local clubs and facilities for afternoon games and discos. Over €250,000 went to local families and businesses in the town during that time and it was something that I was immensely proud of. Covid unfortunately put a stop to this.

When Covid hit I also saw another issue that I might be able to solve and hence, starting my next business – a maths website.

When I was teaching during lockdown I began creating maths videos for my class of 20 students. It didn’t take long before that page had over 200 followers.

Obviously, they all couldn’t have been from my class, but I saw a need and therefore an opportunity, and decided to make the most of the time at home during lockdown. I began to make videos for every past maths paper question at higher and ordinary level for the Leaving and Junior Cert. I then made them accessible to all students.

Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023

The student could select the year, the paper, the level and the question and they then had a full walk-through of each specific question. It became successful. Rather than monetising it I decided to help my local community by offering it for free to students in the local area through codes on the open forum. It was for this reason that I was presented with the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award by the Greystones Municipal District Office.

Looking forward, what are the main goals that you would like to achieve over the coming years?
Being a teacher and having worked in the local schools, I have seen first-hand what overcrowding looks like from inside the schools. I would love to try and tackle the enrolment problem for local schools – for example, let’s have a cross school enrolment policy where the schools come together and agree on how things are done. I believe no student should be given their place in a school until every student has a place lined up. It is unfair for a primary school student to have uncertainty about where they are going to be attending secondary school whilst all of their friends are talking about and making plans for their future. Having worked with local principals in the past, I feel I would be very capable of working on this issue and trying to make it better for everyone involved – the students, the teachers, the management and the parents.

Having grown up in Greystones and relied upon, and continue to rely on, public transport to get to school, college or my work, I think it is essential that as the town grows, the infrastructure supporting the town and its hinterlands grows with it. The Darts are too infrequent, the buses aren’t reliable. These are two big issues that need a lot of focus. I want to see more cohesion between all transport services so that if a Dart pulls into the station, the bus heading to Newcastle hasn’t just pulled away two minutes before. It is in everyone’s best interest to have a public transport service we can rely on, leading to less congestion on the roads, which is also going to be better for the environment.

To turn a fine Mayor Quimby quote into a question, ask not what you can do for your county, but what you can do for your county…?
From the outset of this process I wanted to help facilitate change – to change the way things are done for the better. I spend a lot of my free time walking the seafront with my family. I want to be a person that people are happy to approach when I’m out and about, and tell me the issues they have and the problems they face, and offer them support and help where and when I can.

On all of my canvassing material I have ensured that people can contact me. My phone number is there for everyone to see and to use when they need help. I want people to feel confident that they have someone at the end of the phone that they can contact if they need something.

I don’t want to be the person that gets back to people via email in three-to-five working days.

Send me a WhatsApp and I’ll get back to you asap; call me and let’s talk. I am the youngest candidate running for election and I want to be the young voice of real change. I want to offer new ways of doing things, and the first step to being able to help people is to be contactable.

Strictly For Éire Óg

If being a politician doesn’t work out, have you got a Career B in mind? Dancer? Magician? Traffic warden…?
Well, Paul, I tried the dancing before, when I won Strictly Come Dancing for Eire Og, and while I enjoyed it, I’m not sure Greystones is ready for my dancing full-time just yet! Joking aside, I’m very content with my life. I love my job as a maths teacher, and love my little growing family. So, all would not be lost if this didn’t go my way. I’d probably still be ‘networking’ and talking to people anyway, to see how I could help them.

Ollie!

But to be honest, I would really like to give back to the community I grew up in. I want to help my neighbours in any way I can, and I feel as an elected representative I could do more for the people of Greystones. I am confident that although younger than the rest, I have the experience, drive and determination to do the job, and I do believe that if elected I am the right person for the job.

Trump or Biden?
Between running my campaign, raising Ollie and working, I haven’t a minute to be looking at American politics, but my opinion would be Biden is too old and Trump is too nuts. If it was up to me I’d have someone 50 years younger having a go.

You can get in touch directly with Jack Commons on email here or by phone here, and follow on Instagram here or Facebook here. More Speakers’ Corner here.