Ivan Keatley to replace FG councillor

Ivan Keatley from Old Kilcullen has been nominated to take over the Fine Gael seat on Kildare County Council made vacant by the recent election of Martin Heydon to the Dail, writes Brian Byrne. He is pictured above on the right with Deputy Heydon, on a visit to CPC this morning, of which school they are both past pupils.

Originally from Ballymount, Kilgowan, Ivan is married to Elena and they have a son Quin. He helped Martin Heydon with his recent election campaign, something which he says gave him a crash course in the local issues which are exercising people in the area.

"It will be a steep learning curve for me, but I'm looking forward to the challenge," he told the Diary today. "From a generational point of view I can understand many of them. I have a young son myself, I have a mortgage, and I have the very same financial concerns that the ordinary person has at the end of the week and the end of the month, paying the mortgage, paying the bills."

He says he hopes to be able to give strong representation especially for the families in their 30s and 40s, 'who at the end of the day keep our economy going'.