ABOUT DERMOT

Dermot was raised in Ireland and moved to Queens when he was 19. When he first moved back to the US, Dermot worked on construction sites, and in several jobs as a school custodial worker - eventually working his way up to becoming a teacher in District 24. From there he moved into his position with the United Federation of Teachers, where he became a political coordinator fighting for worker's rights.

Over his 15 year career with the UFT, he has built relationships with community leaders and elected officials across the city, and will leverage those relationships to deliver for this district.

DERMOT’S PRIORITIES

Education

Dermot has been an educator and labor leader within the Teachers Union for over 25 years, and he has seen the daily struggles of teachers and students alike. Dermot’s work in education began in the classroom, teaching 8th-grade social studies in District 24.

He will fight to ensure New York City’s public schools are best in the country, by fighting for local access to middle school, expanding gifted and talented programs so students can thrive, keeping classrooms small, and expanding after school programs for students and parents alike. He will work to reallocate City funds to improve our public schools across the city, including increasing funding to CUNY campuses, building additional solar panels on schools, and addressing staff shortages.

Public Safety

Everyone in New York is entitled to safety on the streets, subways, parks, in their place of work, and other public spaces.

We need to support efforts to reduce crime and violence on our streets and subways by working with law enforcement to fill staffing shortages, increase and improve video surveillance, and improve response times.

Public safety is paramount and criminals should face real consequences for their actions.

Affordability

We can work together to make New York city a more affordable place to live.

Affordability in NYC starts with sky-high housing costs. We need to build more quality workforce housing that brings new opportunities and ideas into our communities, and so our children can live where they grew up. Dermot will bring new ideas to the table that can create more spaces for new housing by working with our private sector businesses to turn empty office spaces into affordable places to live.

We must address affordability beyond just housing costs, though. We need to make sure city contractors and projects are bringing in high-paying jobs, and making sure where city dollars are being used to finance projects, union labor is being used to build.

Dermot will lead to expand access to affordable childcare and healthcare to NYC families, and work with leaders across this city to make sure basic daily cost of living issues are addressed to reduce everyday costs for New Yorkers.

Workers’ Rights

Dermot has spent his career dedicated to working men and women in this city, and has always been on the frontlines fighting for workers on picket lines and at protests

He will always advocate for fair wages, good benefits, workplace safety measures, and increasing union membership across the city. City contracts should go to reliable, legitimate contractors who will prioritize fair treatment and fair compensation to workers, and to ensure that work is done in a timely manner so taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly.