I think it's about time that political parties gave us a run down on who's a loose cannon on the ticket, but they just didn't know how off-kilter they were when they were nominated. Either that or give us a brief disclosure of their more "colourful" tweets or FB comments

when they ran for local election. I've given 2nd or 3rd preferences to people on the day, only to discover later on, via their jaw dropping tweets, that they shouldn't have received a preference at all.

Thought I'm not sure how much "Vote for X, but be prepared for her hot takes on transgender people living their lives" or "You think X is collecting food for local people in need, but wait till you find out that he's a fan of anti-vax racists on the side" quotes would win votes.

When TDs stand up in the Dáil to talk about equality, it's probably OK to ask if they've changed their mind about all the nimby votes on Traveller accommodation in the County Council or about them liking the tweets of con artists, climate change & science deniers.

Everyone's entitled to learn, deepen their knowledge and maybe change their views. I'd be far happier if elected representatives explained that they once held views that were ill-informed or that discriminated against people, but that they've since learned & listened a bit more.

If people were able to say "Yes that was me & since then I've read some facts and copped on" it'd be more refreshing than pretending they "meant" something else or "chose the wrong language".

If a county councillor, TD or minister "chose the wrong words" then they either did so out of ignorance and have learned or they still believe what they did then & simply got caught out saying it.

Lots of us say the wrong things, in haste, out of ignorance, hurt, anger or lack of awareness or when we're at a low ebb. To err is human & all that. TDs are human too. They just need to be able to say "I was an arse. I'm sorry I was. I'm learning. I'll try better".

I'll probably give preferences to candidates in the future, who I didn't know would come out with awful stuff. I'll do my homework more before I vote if they promise to do theirs before then run for election in the first place.