‘These people won’t silence me’ – Brazilian candidate ignores social media attacks to focus on local concerns on canvass

“I recognise you; I have seen your face on the television – well done on what you did,” says the man, standing at his front door on Clonliffe Road in north Dublin.

He is speaking to Caio Benício, the Brazilian Deliveroo rider who intervened in the attack at a school on Parnell Street last autumn and who is now standing in the local elections.

Benício (43) was working when he witnessed three children and a care worker being attacked by a man armed with a knife outside Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square, in Dublin’s city centre on the afternoon of November 23rd, and intervened. One child and the care worker suffered severe injuries.

Benício was hailed as a hero in the wake of the attack and a website set up for him raised several hundred thousand euro.

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He announced in April that he would run as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the local elections in the north inner city of Dublin.

‘What brings me here is one action where I didn’t think about my risks. I could have been injured at that time but I knew it was the right thing to do. Now I feel exactly the same’

—  Caio Benício

Going door to door on a canvass in the north inner city on Thursday evening, Benício explains that becoming a politician “never crossed my mind”.

“What brings me here is one action where I didn’t think about my risks. I could have been injured at that time but I knew it was the right thing to do. Now I feel exactly the same,” he says.

If elected, he feels he can be “a voice for immigrants here working hard”. He believes he can provide immigrants with “a better life for their family, paying tax and helping economic growth”.

Benício moved to East Wall a year ago to support his family after his restaurant burned down in Brazil. His family plan to move to Ireland to join him next year, when his daughter finishes university.

On the doors, he tells people of his work as a delivery driver and how this means he “knows the north inner city very well – every corner”.

Voters seem happy to meet him. One man takes his leaflet and says: “It’s good to see new faces and ideas.”

Standing in his front garden in Dublin 3, Chris McLoughlin (90) says he was “born and reared” in the area and “welcomes the opportunity to talk to the candidates”.

“There are a lot of issues at the moment that are worthy of discussion. The main thing is littering. Dublin is still regarded as a dirty city. There’s a lot of dumping and litter around the place,” he says.

It was “interesting” to meet Benício, as he was “aware of his heroic act”, McLoughlin says.

He says he was “a little surprised to see what I call foreign people getting involved in local politics”.

“You’re left to wonder if they understand the issues, but he claims he understands, and Fianna Fáil seem to be happy to recruit him,” he says.

McLoughlin believes candidates need to be aligned with a party “if they’re going to have any force in the area”, though he says he is “not much of a Fianna Fáil voter himself”.

“I do criticise them for being 17 years in Government and a lot of opportunities were lost,” he says.

Asked why he opted to join Fianna Fáil, Benício responds: “People may say I’m using the party, people may say the party are using me. The truth is we are working together.

“In politics, you cannot do everything by yourself.”

Local Fianna Fáil senator Mary Fitzpatrick says Benício approached her and expressed an interest in running in the local elections. She told him: “You do realise you’re going to go from hero to zero.”

“But he wasn’t deterred,” she says.

“It was a phrase I used to be honest with him. This is not a casual thing, it’s not a small step for any individual to take. He was brand new to politics,” she says.

There has been “good engagement” with him on the doors so far, she says.

‘People live in cities because they like the excitement and the diversity of it, so migration isn’t coming up in a negative way except for concerns over the tents’

—  Senator Mary Fitzpatrick

As a voice for other immigrants, immigration hasn’t been coming up much on the door; instead, locals were more concerned about illegal dumping, crime and antisocial behaviour.

As a consequence, Benício doesn’t face much criticism for his nationality while out canvassing on the streets of Dublin, despite negative comments on his social media.

“People live in cities because they like the excitement and the diversity of it, so migration isn’t coming up in a negative way except for concerns over the tents,” says Fitzpatrick.

She thinks locals are taken by his “courage to intervene at a moment in time in our community when we really needed somebody”.

“I don’t think they’ve any concerns about his ability to intervene if he’s elected to city council,” Fitzpatrick says.

Benício is aware of the “very strong comments” made about him on his social media.

“I don’t feel afraid. It’s a tiny group of people that doesn’t represent Ireland,” he says.

“These people won’t silence me; I don’t hear them.”

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