THE PENSIONER who successfully challenged a law preventing over-65s from serving on a jury earlier this year, is set to embrace 'grey politics' and run in next year's local elections.

Mark Kennedy, a 72-year-old widower from Galway, is one of a number of elderly people across the country who are considering standing for election on an elder issues platform following the recent medical card furore.

It was reported last week that an application has been made to the Oireachtas to register a new political party championing the interests of older people, called the Senior Party.

A group from Dublin is behind the move and the emergence of a senior citizens party here would see Ireland catch up with its neighbours. The Senior Citizens Party, focusing on the rights of people over-50, was established in England in 2004 and the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party (SSCUP) had a representative in the Scottish parliament from 2003 to 2007.

Kennedy said he is trying to find out about the platform the new party will stand on, but "if it draws members on the basis of age who are willing to abandon previously held political affiliations in place of principles and issues, then of course I'll run."

He said: "I think that such a party is very badly needed in this country. I was friendly with Monsignor James Horan and he was constantly grieving over the fact that TDs would be more faithful to party politics than they would be to the needs of the people who elected them.

"He said to me one day, 'I am losing faith in the idea of party politics. TDs voted for things that their constituents are against at the behest of the party whip.' He should be the patron saint of any party founded on the basis of age because his achievements were enormous.

"I am not interested in going to a gathering that just complains all the time. I would hope this proposed party wouldn't see itself as an opposition or adversarial party."

The father of four adult children started his degree in NUI Galway when he was 65 years old and he is currently completing a doctorate in mediaeval history.

The recent medical card cuts angered him and he believes that "the fight is not over, as the automatic right to a medical card for every person reaching 70 years of age ceases on 1 January.

"People will be reluctant to go to the doctor because of the expense. Illnesses will be diagnosed at a later and more serious stage and the treatment needed will be more expensive than the medical card could ever be. The issue of the medical card is not over.

"Putting a limitation on citizen participation such as jury service is very serious, but putting a limitation on the right to health care for elderly people is an even more serious thing."

Kennedy is currently campaigning for a 'perpetual light of remembrance' for those who left Ireland through Galway Bay for the United States during the Famine to be put in place on Mutton Island off the Galway city coast.

"By working on issues like the Mutton Light Famine Memorial, I am already political, so if we can get a new senior citizens party up and running, I will just be getting more involved in politics."