Eugene McGuinness has confirmed that he will run as an independent candidate in both the borough bouncil and county council Local Elections in June.
Mr McGuinness is a brother of junior minister for enterprise John McGuinness and an uncle of Fianna Fail sitting councillor Andrew McGuinness who is also contesting the elections for Fianna Fail.
Eugene McGuinness said his campaign to regain a seat held by his late father Mick McGuinness will start immediately and the main thrust of his campaign will concentrate on the need to help local businesses work through the recession and on how politicians will have to work harder and be made more accountable.
He suggests setting up a new way to levy local charges to businesses based on a differential rates type system, similar to the differential rents on local authority housing, whereby businesses under pressure will only pay what they can afford based on audited accounts of turnover.
“Planning permission for new enterprises should be fast tracked. New business or existing businesses wishing to expand should have as many officials put on the case as is necessary to insure red tape is dispensed with and the cost of such permission slashed,” he added.
Government TDs and Ministers elected by the people of Kilkenny should be asked to attend a meeting once a month where they can be questioned by the elected members on how they are performing and what steps they have taken to put the case forward for Kilkenny. This will insure that the people of Kilkenny can have a real view on how politicians are performing which repairs the “disconnect” inflicted on the voters because of the duel mandate decision, Mr McGuinness concluded.
