‘We need someone strong on immigration’ – on the campaign trail with a Wicklow independent

"I'd be pretty strong on immigration," Rob says.

"You would, would you? That's what we need," the woman replies.

"Yes, I was involved with the Newtown(mountkennedy) crew when they were protesting the IPAS centre down there," he explains, as the woman interjects: "Good".

"I was actually canvassing in Newtown last night," he goes on, "and a 13-strong team came out from Newtown to help me canvass. Because nobody stood with them. None of the political parties stood with them," he adds.

"I'd be definitely the strongest on immigration standing around here," Rob says.

Here being Bray, where as an independent candidate for the local elections last summer, he faired remarkably well, his popularity as a local business owner and a youth mental health advocate seeing him eliminated only at the last count.

Now running for a seat in the Dáil's Wicklow constituency, against the Taoiseach, Health Minister and three other TDs all seeking four seats, he has had to up his game.

He has now honed his manifesto to embrace even wider concerns, including social and affordable housing, which was another issue very much to the fore for his local election campaign; the abolition of the USC and the reduction in VAT to 9pc; a pension increase of €25 per week, per budget; more community support for local sports clubs and a county-wide youth mental health programme; free childcare and fast-tracking of assessments for children with special needs; and "a common sense approach" to immigration.

"I want them out, basically," the woman says. "I don't mind the ones that are here legally, working and contributing and getting into the Irish thing," she goes on. "But all these other economic migrants, nobody knows who they are, where they are. What are they doing here?"

"Well, to my mind what's going on is that the UK had a Rwanda plan where they were going to move everybody to Rwanda," Rob says. "

"Now they're just coming across the border and coming into Ireland, and 80pc of people who are claiming asylum in Ireland now are coming via the UK. So we are the new Rwanda plan for the UK, in my view. So it's something that needs to be dealt with, and I don't see anybody in the current government willing to stand up for it," he says.

"They're liars," says the woman. "They said on the doorstep it's all about the cost of living and houses. It's not. It's all about immigration."

Of course, it's not all about immigration, and the UK's Rwanda deportations threat was torn up with a change of government in July.

But there is no doubting that of the houses in Bray that Rob and his crew have visited on a damp night, just days after the doors had been rattled by Halloween trick or treaters, it is an unavoidable topic that Rob is not afraid to broach.

A member of his canvassing team explains why Rob is not afraid to be so candid on an issue that has been so divisive.

"Before he was ever talking about politics, he was talking about the community aspect to the club and what it does for the community," he says.

"He sees generation of kids coming up, they're training under him. So he's very aware of what they're facing as they're hitting 18, 19, 20 years of age and they're looking for a home, they're looking for services and they're just not there, year on year," he adds. "My daughter's 16 now, she trains with Rob. She'll be facing that too in the next few years. He'd be somebody who'd go and have a voice for them because increasingly now, advocacy as we see it in the public space isn't for us, and you're racist if you say that it should be. That's deeply wrong and there's nothing racist about saying that the young people growing up here should have a future here.

"I say that as somebody who, as a bricklayer, much of my generation went off to Australia. You know, I was one of the few lads out of my class that stayed. I know lads in Canada, Australia, their future's there now. I'd rather my kids were here, my grandkids were here when the time comes, you know? So the more voices like Rob Carry's the better."

With a background in media, having graduated with a degree in History and Politics and crowning it with a Master's in Journalism, he worked in the field for 10 years before he opened Jai Sua Muay Thai, in Bray, where, as he tells people once they recognise his face, that "half the young lads in this estate have been through our doors".

A professional fighter, he also opened BLOC, a large commercial gym in Bray, and between the two counts some 500 regular members, providing a real focal point for the local community, offering free women's self-defence classes and women-only classes to boost female participation in sport.

What he experienced during his local election campaign, albeit his first time out, "was a disconnect between the kind of career politician type and people who've been involved in community work", Rob says of his decision to run as an independent general election candidate.

On the doors, people spoke of issues like immigration, that "a lot of people felt was being deliberately ignored by politicians".

"The broader views on immigration weren't being reflected in the media," he adds. "I think people found it quite refreshing that I was actually willing to talk about it, and I wasn't scared to talk about it. I have, to my mind, a very rational position on it and I think people responded to that.

"But also, I do a lot of work in the youth mental health space," he continued. "I think that resonated with a lot of people. We're in the depths of a mental health crisis and a lot of people are struggling."

Rob has seen the brutal reality of the mental health crisis first-hand and has lost young men at the club through suicide, while also being confronted with attempted suicides among the members.

Earlier this year, his martial arts club launched a unique mental health project that allows its students to access free counselling sessions, after linking up with Mynd, a mental health and wellbeing service, based in Bray. Following a fundraising drive, any student who finds themselves struggling with their mental health have access to a number with a counsellor at the other end of it.

"I just felt like we have to try and do something more, and to be honest, it's kind of in keeping with what a club should be about, to my mind," he explains. "So now we have those supports in place for all our students. It's completely free care and the bill comes to us at the end of the month."

He is angered by the failures of the mental health services, particularly when it comes to waiting lists, where time could mean all the difference.

"If you're in the depths of a mental health crisis and you're told three months, that could be the end, you know? I know there's some good charities and they do some great work, but they're swamped. We were able to negotiate a really good rate," he says. "But I don't see why the state can't step in and cover a cost like that."

On housing, Rob says the Government's "slum landlord" approach has been disastrous and tough decisions that will reduce demand need to be adopted, such as restrictions on property ownership by overseas buyers and investors. His position on childcare, meanwhile, is that it should be free to improve the lives of working families.

Looking at his own position, as something of an underdog among the government heavyweights, Rob believes there is an appetite for change and predicts the time is ripe for independent candidates generally to flourish.

"I'm doing absolutely everything I can to maximize my vote, but there's two ways you can win in my mind. I can win by getting a seat, or I can win by getting my ideas out there that I really think are going to help the country. So you can trigger a debate about the issues that are important to you, even if you don't get elected, it means they're on the agenda and you can force whoever is successful to address these things," he says.

"There is a lot of frustration out there now unfortunately. That hope for change was kind of stifled and people are kind of looking around to see what is going to constitute that change this time. I do think people are looking towards independents. I think independents countrywide are going to surprise people."

In another doorway, Rob asks just that of a woman who concedes to being "in two minds" generally, but adds: "We'd have always given independents a vote anyway, but [now] I will be going independents."