Longford man Stephen Garland raising awareness of MS as he seeks election for European Parliament

Granard native Stephen Garland is running in the Midlands North West constituency in the forthcoming European Elections.
An independent, he is running on a platform based on disability issues.

He suffers with MS but in recent years has seen an improvement in his personal situation.

“In 2017, I travelled to Moscow and received life changing treatment. It cost €70,000 and I am grateful to all those who supported my fundraising efforts at that time,” he told the Leader.

“At that point, my body was failing. I was told that I was six months away from being in a wheelchair,” he stated.

He wants to raise awareness of MS. An arts professional for many years, he also wants to highlight supports available from the EU for those in the arts community.

By his own admission, his campaign is being run on the proverbial shoestring.

“This is a vast constituency and I do not have the resources of candidates from the big parties. However, I have built up support around the region and I have already participated in hustings events,” he explained.

According to Garland, the Midlands and North West region has a particularly high rate of MS sufferers.

“There are 9,000 people living with MS in the Midlands and North West. There is also a significant lack of services in that region,” he stated.

Also read: Longford Lives: From Granard to Russia in the fight against MS

“Core HSE funding for the illness has not increased,” he added.

At European level, he is seeking the decoupling of treatment of MS from European regulations. Drugs for MS in Europe are under Federal Drug Agency (FDA) guidelines.

Garland himself became ill with MS in 2014, while working at the World Cup in Brazil.

Prior to that, he had spent many years living in Spain and other countries, working in the arts sector.

“I ran Barcelona’s Irish Festival for six years. In that time, we attracted acts such as Bell X1, The Undertones and Kila over from Ireland,” he explained.

Garland still owns the comedy festival in Barcelona.

He got his first taste of festivals and events through his family’s involvement in the Granard Harp Festival in the 1980’s.

“I became a committee member at a very young age and it left a lasting legacy for better or worse as it defined my professional career for the last 30 years as an international Arts professional and Event manager,” he stated.

He is a son of Gerry Garland, who ran a furniture business on Main St, Granard for many years.

He played underage football for St Mary’s Granard, during a successful era for the club.

“I picked up a knee injury playing for Gormanston College in Co Meath, in the run up to a Leinster Colleges Final against St Mel’s. This put a halt to my gallop in terms of my GAA career,” he explained.

“I still totally love our games and on arriving in Barcelona in 2002 I quickly became involved with and became President of the Barcelona Gaels for five years,” he stated.

“A real part of the lifeblood of clubs like this spread across Europe is welcoming teams from Ireland and while I have still to get St Mary’s over, we did have a Clonguish side make the trip one year,” he added.

In relation to the Arts, he wants artists to be able to better navigate the funding streams available from the EU.

“There is an artists version of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy),” he explained.

Garland continues to perform himself and soon, he will bring his show ‘The Best of Us’ to the Roisin Dubh in Galway.

“I called the show that name because it represents people who stepped up for me and I believe ‘the best of us’ applies to many Irish people,” he explained.

In September, he plans to climb Ben Bulben for charity and he will also perform a show in Lus na Greine, Granard.
Garland recently appeared at an election hustings event in NUIG, which was “well attended.”

“The students were engaged by the issues and the debate,” he explained.

Garland believes that the issue of migration is “taking oxygen out of the campaign for the European elections.”

Garland may not have the power of a party machine behind him, but he is driven by the desire to see real improvements in the areas he is interested in, which also includes small farmers.

Also read: Our must-have new magazine, Longford Life, is in shops now!