Waterford man who left Ireland for 'better life' is back to run in General Election

Killian Mangan, who also ran in the recent local election, has announced his intention to run as a "progressive independent candidate" for Waterford in the upcoming General Election.

Killian is from Waterford City and went to primary school in Scoil Mhuire N.S. in Butlerstown before going to C.B.S. in Tramore for secondary school. He moved to Gaelcholáiste Phort Láirge for transition year before returning to Tramore for the inaugural
year in the new school Ard Scoil Na Mara.

After finishing school, Killian moved abroad to Glasgow, Scotland in order to study Computer Games (Software Development) B.Sc. in Glasgow Caledonian University and later specialised in Computer Games (Design). Spending a year on Erasmus in Barcelona in order to learn Spanish, Killian returned to study his final year of college in Glasgow.

After graduation, Killian moved home to Waterford to live with his parents during the pandemic, before moving back to Barcelona for one year and working in a call centre while there. He then spent the following 2 years working in a large company in the video games industry in Edinburgh as a Content Designer, with a focus on environment, level, and general design.

In recent years, Killian also founded and leads a remote-work game development company structured in the form of a democratic worker-owned cooperative called Quarant Inc. and has worked on multiple independent video games.

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While working and studying abroad, Killian has endeavoured to return home to Waterford whenever possible in order to be closer to friends and family, and has remained engaged and active in local and national politics here over the past 4 years.

Killian helped to found the Waterford branch of CATU (Community Action Tenants’ Union), serving as its Comms Officer. He is also active in the pro-diversity group ‘Waterford For All’. While living in Edinburgh, Killian also continued to be engaged in political activism there, as an active member of the Scottish tenants’ union ‘Living Rent’ and assisting the left-wing Scottish
Green Party in campaigning.

In April this year, Killian left Edinburgh in order to move back to Waterford and run in the local elections so that he could more actively help to improve Waterford and Ireland.

Despite recently moving home from abroad, and despite lacking the capacity and support of a major political party, Killian came 8th of 17 candidates in first-preferences in the 6-seat Local Electoral Area of ‘Tramore-Waterford City West’. Since the local election in June, Killian has spent his free time working with others in CATU Waterford to stop the government-led evictions of families from Direct Provision, participating in Palestinian solidarity marches and activism, and helping to organise the cross-party, cross-community group ‘Waterford Coalition Against Fascism’.

Speaking after announcing his intention to run in the upcoming General Election, Killian said, "For years, we have tried sending TDs to Dublin in order to beg for funding for specific projects, and this approach has overwhelmingly failed. Apart from a handful of catchy headline projects, Waterford continues to be left further and further behind overall.

"In my General Election campaign, I am proposing a radical and positive alternative; working with other pro-localism and progressive people across the country to push for democratisation of local government and decentralisation away from Dublin. By changing the system to empower our local and regional politics, we can ensure that workers and carers in communities in Waterford can thrive and that decision-makers are more accountable to us."

Killian continued: "Our country continues to be one of the most centralised countries in the OECD, and decades of underfunding and centralisation pushed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have stopped Waterford from reaching its full potential.

"Like so many who grew up here, I left in search of a better quality of life and learned a lot from my time in Barcelona and Scotland. I find it devastating that so many of those my age feel the need to leave their home in Waterford in search of a better life and thriving communities, but I am determined to stop this trend and to work collectively to build a better Waterford, one where We All Thrive.

"I believe in the potential of Waterford to thrive in a democratised, decentralised, and decarbonised Ireland; a place where people of all ages want to stay and help to build a more accessible and empowered Déise; one which prioritises the voices of workers and carers in our communities. If you believe in this vision, please reach out to support the campaign."