Troy Gallagher
A London Irish Story as told to Anna Johnston
Mayor Troy Gallagher needs little introduction to the people of Islington. Being born and bred in Donegal to becoming the first Irish-born mayor of Islington.
“Growing up in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal in the 70’s and 80’s was great in the sense that everyone helped each other out when times were hard, especially with the recession- there was always great community spirit! However, the hard times in Donegal were tough and when I was five, my father was in an accident at work and broke his spine. He spent almost three years in and out of hospital and throughout the 80’s he wasn’t able to walk. I had to grow up overnight, after his accident, to be able to help my mum around the house. I’ll never forget the second-hand clothes that were given to us and how tough the Christmases were. St. Vincent de Paul volunteers would come to the door with a hamper, meaning well of course, but my dad would get embarrassed and tell them we didn’t need it. Living through these hard times, really gave me a sense of empathy and lived understanding for people going through it today. School wasn’t easy growing up either as I was badly bullied. Back in the 80’s people would mock you if they thought you were anyway effeminate or if you liked books and didn’t like playing football or GAA.
My first memories of London are from when I first came as a child to visit my uncle who lived just off Holloway Road in 1988. I remember during that trip on our way into central London to visit Madame Tussauds we saw the then Mayor outside the Town Hall in Islington. I said to my uncle “When I grow up, I’m going to move to London, I’m going to have a 020 number and I want to become a councillor of Islington and one day I’ll be the Mayor of Islington.” My uncle looked at me and said you’ve two hopes- Bob Hope and No Hope! He told me that there's a lovely Irish community around here and that I may move to London, but I’d have to be English to be Mayor.
I first moved over to the UK to attend Westminster College in Oxford to study English and literature in 1995. In Oxford, I finally met people who were openly gay. It was a relief to be able to talk about it and just have friends that knew.
When I moved to London in 1999 after I graduated, we went to places like The King Edward in Islington. I would meet gay Irish men who understood the difficulties of growing up in Ireland being gay and we could have those open conversations about the catholic guilt we felt. I never could have dreamed that there would be a gay Taoiseach of Ireland like Leo Varadkar. I would have loved to stay in Ireland and have a political career there, but I always felt that being part of the LGBTQ+ community would have been a major hurdle both in selection and progression. I’m so glad to see that things are changing!
I always wanted to move over to London to help tackle poverty because of my experience with it growing up in the 80’s. People go into politics because they want to make a change and politics can be a force for good but, there is a difference between reading about poverty and actually having a lived experience of poverty. The taste of poverty never leaves your mouth, whether you're four years old, or fifty-four and that really spurs me on to make changes. I joined Ofsted in 2002 which was my first job in the civil service and moved through different departments since then. I got involved in local community as I helped an elderly lady get an eviction order overturned as she was wrongly being threatened with an eviction over a bill the computer said she didn’t pay but actually did! I became chair of the TRA which led me into my community work. Ever since I have been helping members of the community. Around that time Tony Blair set up a program called New Deal for Communities, which was to give £52 million to the 39 most deprived areas in the UK to regenerate the area and tackle poverty, crime, poor health, educational underachievement, and housing. With the community work I had done before and my knowledge of the issues in the area, I was elected to the EC1 NDC Board. I set up school breakfast clubs and had Whitecross market reopened which grew employment in the area. I was the first chair of the Safer Neighbourhood panel which set up local policing teams in EC1 and gave me a platform to meet the people of Islington and understand what the community needs and have a real say in how money is spent in the area to remedy the poverty in the area. I became a councillor in 2010 and Islington councils Olympic Champion in 2010 overseeing Islington’s 2012 Olympic Programme and Olympic torch relay through our streets. Most recently I was appointed the first Irish-born Mayor of Islington for 2021/2022.
The year is already flying by, but I’m delighted to be working with charities that I hold dear to my heart and chose to raise money for with the Council this year. James Place and ICAP both are working to help those suffering from depression and Forum+, helps bring equality and support to the LGBTQ+ community in Islington.
My favourite moment being mayor so far has to be visiting St. Joseph’s Primary here in Islington. A lot of the teachers and students are of Irish descent and the cheers and claps I got when I went to visit were just amazing. So many children were telling me about their parents or grandparents being from Ireland and it was just lovely to hear the children share their experience of Irishness. It made me very proud to be London Irish!”
For the month of March, Islington Council have organised an Irish Month, jammed packed with events for everyone. Check it out here: licevents.ticketsolve.com/shows
