Mark Wall

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.

Biography

Wall attended Churchtown national school and Scoil Eoin in Athy, and later received a Diploma in Marketing and Business Studies from the Institute of Technology, Carlow.

His father, Jack Wall was a senator from 1993 to 1997, and a TD from 1997 to 2016.

Political career

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. Wall served as Deputy Mayor of Athy in 2012, Mayor of Athy in 2012–2013, Mayor of Kildare in 2013–2014 and was elected Chair 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.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for Kildare South at the 2016 and 2020 general elections, but was elected to the Seanad in 2020.

During his time in the Seanad, Wall has spoken about the issue of gambling addiction and repeatedly raised the issue. 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". 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".