Labour Senator John Gilroy has agreed to swap roles with a single mum for a week where he will be trading in the Seanad for the school lunches.
Senator John Gilroy, from Glanmire, Cork, will be trading places with a single mother of three, Andrea Galgey, for a whole week. The idea kicked off when Ms Galgey posted a comment on the Labour Party’s Facebook page asking if a politician, with a nice cushy job, would be able to fill her shoes as a single mum for the week. Senator Gilroy decided to accept the challenge.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ms Galgey said, “I get up at 7am, get the kids ready for school, make lunches, make sure they have everything for activities and plan for what’s happening after school, as some days I am at work.
“In the evening, I cook dinner, help with homework then its activities and bedtime for them. Then I sit down and do my voluntary work on the computer. There is no time for me. I get tired, it’s hard. But you have to do these things for your kids’ future. If I don’t do it who’s going to do it for me?”
However, John knows he’s not going to be in for an easy week. The father of two had this to say: “It’s early in the project and a lot of details have to be worked out.
“It has been said, probably rightly, that policy makers are seldom affected by decisions they make so this is an opportunity to explore that.
“It is a chance to see how decisions made in Leinster House affect people in the community.”
We wonder if Andrea will be allowed to collect John’s expenses seeing as they’re swapping roles.
