About Me
Fúm
I am a dedicated community activist who believes in making things happen. I will not sit back and wait; I will organise and take action. I am a mother to four children, an Irish medium teacher, Special Needs Co-ordinator and wife of a local farmer and tradesman from Ballerin, Co. Derry.
I am passionate about assisting and advocating for the people on the ground in whatever way I can during this ongoing cost of living crisis. As an educator, I am extremely passionate about education in all its forms, both inside and outside of the classroom.
Is mise le meas,
Gemma Brolly
My Priorities
I stepped into politics because I believe we can, and must, do things so much better for our communities. I am dedicated to protecting our local services and supporting our families.
Click below to explore some of my key priorities.
As chairperson of SOS Causeway Hospital, along with my colleagues we are dedicated to protecting the vital healthcare services our community depends on. We have spoken out against the withdrawal of maternity and fetal assessment services, and we continue to challenge any threat to emergency surgery at Causeway.
Through rallies, public meetings, and direct engagement with the Northern Health Trust, we have worked to ensure that the voices of local families are heard loud and clear. Our commitment is to transparency, accountability, and safeguarding rural healthcare access. Together, we must stand up for our local services, because once they are gone, they are gone.
As a teacher and Special Needs Coordinator, I have watched as our education system has been drained of investment, and seen those at the top close their eyes to the endless recommendations of specialist reports, and closed their ears to the endless cries for help within the system.
I will continue to work to improve the education system and wellbeing for each and every child. So many of our children present with anxiety, social and emotional difficulties, as well as academic difficulties. We must work to join the dots between our education system and our health service.
As Aontú Deputy Leader and East Derry Representative, I have been contacted by many parents whose children are struggling with addiction. In County Derry, demand for treatment has soared; Northlands Addiction Centre alone reported a 300% increase in outpatient demand in just 18 months, yet funding has been cut. This is despite mental health being named as one of the top nine Stormont priorities. Worthless promises will not save lives.
Families deserve better, and we must fight to obtain it. As a teacher, I believe we are on the right path in schools, teaching emotional regulation and empowering young people to reach out. But we must do more, inside and outside education. We must restore a true value for life, support families, and ensure that mental health and addiction services are properly funded and accessible.
As Aontú Deputy Leader and East Derry representative, I cannot ignore the industrialisation of our land and heritage. The very soil for which generations died is now being sold from under us. Once driven to the roughest corners, our people preserved language and culture against all odds. Now, external corporations seek to industrialise our Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty with mining, wind farms, and the infrastructure that follows: pylons, substations and BESS.
Aontú believes in respecting the voice of local communities. A glance at the map of the North shows Derry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh swamped, industrialised to the hilt, while other areas appear shielded. We are told of climate targets, of reducing carbon emissions, of protecting water systems. Yet when industry already accounts for 18% of the North’s water pollution incidents and fewer than 40% of rivers meet good ecological standards, this approach is nothing short of hypocritical.
What of the generations to come? What of their health, mental and physical? What of clean air and water, our most basic rights? Hundreds of generations nourished and protected this land for us, we in Aontú will fight to ensure we do the same.
Aontú’s vision of unity begins with compassion. Through our Compassionate Care policy, we are fighting to secure access to paediatric pathology for families in the North who must currently travel to the 26 counties for services. We are also campaigning for a bereavement suite and a 24/7 bereavement service in every maternity hospital across the island of Ireland, because dignity in loss should know no borders.
Unity must also mean common sense in education. That is why I have called for a 32-county educational body, to share best practice, pool resources, and ensure every child benefits equally. A united Ireland is not just a political aspiration; it is a practical, compassionate commitment to families, to education, and to the dignity of life across all 32 counties.
We believe the recent UK Supreme Court ruling on religious education poses a serious threat to freedom of religion. Our view is clear: parents are the chief educators of their children, and education must respect the family and community. Yet there has been a growing disconnect between ordinary people on the ground and those making decisions in government.
Many gave up, stopped voting, and felt their voices no longer mattered. But there is now an awakening, and Aontú are to the fore in that awakening, restoring trust, defending freedoms, and putting family back at the centre of public life.
As the wife of a farmer, I understand the dedication and commitment involved in local farming – but many farmers can no longer a living from their farms. Most are forced to work full-time jobs alongside farming to ensure they can sustain their farms and families.
I will always work to support farmers and to assist them in supporting their communities through traditional farming and much needed social farming practices.
Safe and reliable infrastructure is the backbone of our rural communities, yet rural areas are consistently left behind when it comes to basic maintenance and investment. I believe in taking direct action to fix our local area. Over the past year, my team and I have submitted a constant stream of fault reports to the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to tackle dangerous potholes, flooded roads, and failing infrastructure across the constituency.
A glaring example of this systemic neglect is the closure of Kilrea Bann Bridge. This closure has left communities and businesses in disarray, and I have been to the fore in demanding answers. Through Freedom of Information requests, I have sought clarity on emergency service response times and protocols, and I will continue to press for accountability. Why was the 2022 feasibility study never completed? Those impacted deserve financial support, improved response times, and provision of public transport in such circumstances.
Above all, there must be a clear commitment to build a new bridge with a construction timeline. This is a two-handed plan: one hand repairing the existing bridge, the other building the new.
Aontú is the only party challenging the establishment North and South. Help us deliver real change. Join me in working towards a better Ireland for all.