Mark Wall | |
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Senator | |
Assumed office 29 June 2020 | |
Constituency | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Personal details | |
Born | Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland | 13 January 1970
Political party | Labour Party |
Parent |
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Alma mater | Institute of Technology, Carlow |
Mark Wall (born 13 January 1970) is an Irish Labour Party politician who has served as a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel since April 2020. [1]
Wall attended Churchtown national school and Scoil Eoin in Athy and later received a Diploma in Marketing and Business Studies from I.T. Carlow
His father, Jack Wall was a Senator from 1993 to 1997 and TD from 1997 to 2016. [2]
He was first elected to Kildare County Council at the 2009 Kildare County Council election and additionally to Athy Town Council at the same time. [3] Wall served as Deputy Mayor of Athy in 2012, Mayor of Athy in 2012–2013, Mayor of Kildare in 2013-2014 and was elected Cathaoirleach of Athy Municipal District in 2015. Wall has served as a board member of Scoil Lorcain Castledermot, Kildare Centre for the Unemployed, Churchtown Castlemitchell Community Development Association, Athy Heritage Company and The Willow Project. [4]
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Kildare South at the 2016 and 2020 [5] general elections, but was elected to the Seanad in 2020. [3] Mark Leigh was co-opted to Wall's seat on Kildare County Council following his election to the Seanad. [6]
During his time in the Seanad, Wall has spoken about the issue of gambling addiction and repeatedly raised the issue. [7] In 2021, Wall introduced a bill to ban gambling advertisements, stating that adequate supports should be "in place to help those suffering from (gambling) addiction". [8] A survey conducted by Wall in 2021 found that three in every four Irish people knew someone with a gambling addiction, with Wall stating this was "hugely concerning". [9]