Fiona could be a future ally for Kilcullen

Fiona McLoughlin Healy and her canvassing crew in Kilcullen.

Though her last five years as a councillor didn't impact directly on Kilcullen, there's a reason why the next five might, if Fiona McLoughlin Healy is re-elected.

Two, actually. The first is obvious, because Kilcullen is now going to be in the Newbridge LEA which has been her bailiwick since she entered local politics. She lives in Newbridge, with her husband Dr Bernard Healy and their family. The second is that Healy connection, a long-established and close-knit Kilcullen family.

Fiona McLoughlin Healy is an independent. Not afraid to both speak her mind and relentlessly push the issues that get her attention.

Local issues that can sometimes go a lot further. Such as her conviction that governance  at the KWETB to which she had been nominated as a board member was not as it should be. After a lot of determined effort, that issue went as far as the Comptroller and Auditor General.

She has also raised other concerns about transparency in local government and some of the local projects of which KCC is in charge.

Rocking the boat doesn't make you popular. Too many aboard are afraid of getting wet. But Cllr McLoughlin Healy wears a lifejacket. The one of knowing that she's doing the right thing when she takes on something. She has a second one too … the support of friends and family when the waves are threatening to overwhelm everything. Her Masters in Law and Politics also probably comes in useful …

Most of all, though, she is committed to community. To getting things done that make real differences. So her record for Newbridge over the last five years includes leading the campaigns for refurbishing the Town Hall and building the long-mooted Skate Park. She used her skills in social media to good effect to put legs under better future management of the Curragh Plains. She threatened direct action against speeding trucks in a residential area, forcing a resolution.

She has worked with councillor colleagues to bring forward the Traffic Management Plan and a Cultural Quarter for Newbridge. She is lobbying for a second bridge for the traffic-beleagured town. Her co-founding of the South Kildare Educate Together Campaign for a new secondary school has resulted a Government commitment to that. And her environmental work has achieved a range of actions which will eventually reduce public energy consumption and improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.

If she gets re-elected for another term, she will be a formidable ally for Kilcullen to whomever that town manages to elect from its own current candidates.

Contact her at Fiona@fmcloughlinhealy.ie.


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