It is finally all over. Not only are the candidates all exhausted but we are all a little exhausted from politics at the moment and from now on it will be winding down.
I don’t think anyone will be sorry to see things revert to normal. The posters certainly will not be missed. The late night callers will not be missed and the constant media attention to candidates will not be missed. It is always an exciting time but when the elections are over - it is kind of a relief for most!
It was a great weekend of counting however, and some of our local councillors had a nail-biting wait to see whether they would return their seats or not this year. Luckily for some they did just that, but others were not so lucky.
There are a number of new faces on our local authorities, the biggest surprise being that of Kathleen Funchion of Sinn Fein. She easily made it on to the borough council ahead of several of the sitting councillors. This will bring a new dynamic to the meetings and we will see if Funchion puts her money where her mouth is and ‘instigates change’.
David Fitzgerald will be sitting in the place of his cousin Pat Crotty for Fine Gael and it will be interesting to see what this businessman can bring to the table.
Joe Malone is the new candidate for Fianna Fail. He is a member of the ‘McGuinness Team’ and he also easily made it onto the council. Popular among the hurlers whom he worked with for years as a masseur and popular among young people whom he brings off to Mejegoria every year, Malone wants to deal with Kilkenny’s major drugs problem during his term of office.
There are also several new faces on the county council and those who lost their seats will be missed. Pat Fitzpatrick lost his seat to his colleague Andrew in what can only be considered bad vote management from the McGuinness team. Dixie Doyle (Ind ) always added a bit of colour to meetings and his seat was also lost. Dick Dowling who retired was a stalwart on the council for decades. Catherine Phelan was always a voice of reason and Tommy Brennan was also a surprise loss. Fianna Fail and his supporters will be sad to see him go. Pat Walsh had been co-opted on in place of Deputy Bobby Aylward and some will be happy to see another Aylward returned to the council in the form of Eamon this year. Michael Lanigan will be missed for his incisive interpretation of events and his considered analysis of issues. His legal advice is irreplaceable.
Noel Frawley had a short stint on the borough council and he is happy to have had it. But it was not to last and the traditional labour seat reverted for the first time to Sinn Fein.
Fideles Doherty (FG ), AnneMarie Irish (FG ), and Sean Treacy (FF ) have all been elected for the first time and are only waiting to get their teeth stuck into local politics from the inside. Most of them have been working from outside the council for their areas for many years and this will be their time to shine.
Interesting times ahead for all. It is a hard time to be a politician and I do not envy anyone who has taken up a role at this time as there is no credit and no praise for the job. There is also no money to get things done, and therefore there is a lot of disillusionment with the political system both locally and nationally. Let us hope that things begin to look up and the people of this Marble City can look forward to a brighter future filled with opportunity and hope. We have got to be positive!
So for the next few weeks, expect everything and anything other than politics! We will have interesting interviews and fun features for your perusal and lots more for the summer - let us hope we get a little sun to boot.
Naoise Coogan Editor news@kilkennyadvertiser.ie
