 In 1996, he and his partner Anne Holliday organised an email campaign to protest against the proposed demolition of James Joyce's childhood home in Drumcondra.The campaign received messages of support from Joyce scholars in Britain, Australia, Canada and the US, which were passed on to Dublin Corporation.In 1999, he was a local election candidate for Dublin City Council, running for Fine Gael in the Ballymun-Whitehall local electoral area, but he failed to be elected.