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Jack Wall has been elected to the 30th Dail on the third count, with a total of 9,145 votes.
The three seats in the constituency have now been filled, with the return of the same three TDs from the last Dail.
The turnout in the constituency was 61.7 percent of an electorate of 56,670.
Brian Byrne.
At 5.30pm both Sean O Fearghaill and Sean Power of Fianna Fail were deemed elected on the first count by returning officer Charlie Talbot. The count declaration was delayed because the returning officer wasn't happy that the original count was accurate and had them rechecked.
The count result was Richard Daly FG 3,353; Tom Doyle IND 424; Alan Gillis FG 2,586; Jane Mullins PD 1,513; Sean O Fearghaill FF 8,731; J J Power GP 2,136; Sean Power FF 8,694; and Jack Wall LAB 7,154. The quota for election is 8,648.
The returning officer then set about distributing the second preferences of Tom Doyle and Jane Mullins. A result from that count isn't expected until around 8pm.
At the end of the tally with all boxes opened, the Kilcullen first preferences vote pretty well mirrors the overall performance of the candidates through the constituency. However there were a couple of notable differences.
Sean Power FF won overwhelmingly the lion's share of the Kilcullen vote, with 29 percent of the poll. In second place was his fellow party candidate Sean O Fearghaill with 20 percent. Jack Wall of Labour polled 19 percent, while the FG vote went to Richard Daly's 10 percent and Alan Gillis's 7 percent.
The overall constituency tally shows Sean O Fearghaill and Sean Power with 25 percent each of the first preference vote with Jack Wall on 21 percent, Richard Daly 10 percent, Alan Gillis 8 percent, J J Power 6 percent, Jane Mullins 4 percent and Tom Doyle 1 percent.
A proper first count isn't expected until well after lunch.
Brian Byrne.
Kildare County Council has clarified a suggestion that a number of voters who complained that they were not on the Register were 'written in'.
"We were approached by a number of people in the days prior to polling day," Council spokesman Charlie Talbot confirmed to the Diary during this morning's count at Ryston. "In most cases they said they had sent in their documentation but the changes to the Register hadn't been done. We checked, and where we found that the issue was inconclusive, or where we had made an actual error ourselves we did 'write in' the people concerned."
He said no would-be voter who complained on polling day itself had been written in.
"Our objective was to make sure as many people as possible had their vote," Charlie Talbot said. "Writing some of those in was in our view a matter of simple justice."
Brian Byrne.
A significant number of people who went to cast their votes in Kilcullen yesterday found that they had been struck off the Register of Electors.
They included complete families, several of them multi-generational Kilcullen people. At least two dozen such electors were disappointed when they went to exercise their franchise. Among thom was 83-year-old Brigie Burke in Melon Hill, who found she wasn't on the Register when her son Kevin brought her to vote.
"She has lived in Kilcullen since 1957 and has always exercised her right to vote," her daughter Bernie told the Diary. "In fact, we were always taught that it was our duty to vote.
"She has listened to many of the various political debates over the past few weeks. When Kevin brought her in to vote she was quite upset -- as she says herself it might have been her last time to vote!"
The issue of people being deleted from the Register was strongly highlighted last November during a review to update the list of those eligible to vote. At the time people all over the country complained that the 12 million euros exercise had arbitrarily cut them from the list, though environment minister Dick Roche subsequently hailed it as a success.
Meanwhile, a late check last evening suggested that the percentage turnout in Kilcullen was in the low 60s. In all, some 2,200 people were eligible to vote in the polling station at Scoil Bhride.
Pictured are the last voters to cast their ballots just before the 10.30pm closedown, Maura Byrne and Brendan Duffy.
Brian Byrne.
As polling day wound its way into late afternoon, Fianna Fail candidate Sean O Fearghaill reached Kilcullen on his tour of the polling stations.
"I just realised then that I'd had no breakfast, so we had to take a break," he told the Diary when we met up in The Hideout just after he'd fixed that situation.
He agreed with your Editor that this time around it wasn't so straightforward, with the entry of Jane Mullins into the fray. "But if she'd gone in six months earlier she really would have been a formidable candidate."
Of all the opposing canditates, he reckoned J J Power of the Green Party to be the really serious contender.
Sean emphasised that his campaign won't be finished until 10.30 tonight.
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There was a good turnout by lunchtime in Kilcullen in voting for the General Election.
"There's been a steady trickle all morning," Maurice O'Maheny told the Diary. "We've had something between 12-15 percent of voters out so far."
Brian Byrne.
Tom Doyle IND
Independent election candidate Tom Doyle decided to 'go it alone' after failing to be nominated as a Fine Gael candidate at the party's selection convention.
That convention elected Richard Daly of Athy, and Alan Gillis was subsequently added to the ticket by FG head office.
Tom Doyle has been in Newbridge since he went to Newbridge College at the age of 12. He expects to attract support from all sides in Newbridge and believes that the balance of power may be held by Independents and small parties after the election.
His key platform topics include more and sustainable jobs closer to people's homes, more teachers and schools, and a new medical facility for Kildare South.
He is also concerned about security, a fairer tax system, and improved transport infrastructure. He also wants measures from central government to help integrate the ever-expanding immigrant population in the constituency.
NOTE: Due to the late entry of Tom Doyle, it wasn't possible for the Diary to arrange a full interview as we have done with other candidates. The above is taken from his election literature and local newspaper reports.
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Sean O Fearghaill FF
Sean O Fearghaill was elected to Dáil Éireann in May 2002 after contesting several previous elections and being narrowly defeated in the 1997 election. He was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Eireann in June 2000.
He has been a member of Kildare County Council since 1985, where he is leader of the Fianna Fail group. He is also a member of the South Western Area Health Board Childcare Advisory Committee as well as a member of the Eastern Regional Health Authority. He also serves as Chairman of the County Kildare Strategic Policy Committee on Housing and Social Integration, and is a member of the Kildare County Development Board.
Sean is married to Mary Clare and they have four children, Aoife, Caoimhe, Eoghan and Nessa.
NOTE: The above is taken from the Fianna Fail Website, as Deputy O Fearghail didn't respond to an invitation to be interviewed by the Diary.
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Sean Power FF
The Minister of State for Health and Children and TD for Kildare South, Sean Power was first elected to Dáil Éireann 1989 and at each subsequent Election.
He is a former Chairman of the Committee on the Environment and Local Government and a former member of Kildare County Council.
He has also served as Assistant Government Whip.
A son of Paddy Power, TD for Kildare 1969-89, Minister for Defence 1982, Fisheries and Forestry 1979-81 and MEP 1977-79, he is married to Deirdre Malone, and they have three sons and one daughter.
NOTE: The above is taken from the Fianna Fail Website, as Minister Power didn't respond to an invitation to be interviewed by the Diary.
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Alan Gillis FG
Fine Gael Kildare South General Election candidate Alan Gillis represented Fine Gael at the European Parliament as the MEP for Leinster (1994-1999) and was President of the Irish Farmers Association from 1990-1994. In 1999, Alan joined the Board of Management at Tallaght Hospital and has been its Chairman since 2002.
"I'm delighted that I have been added to the Fine Gael team, along with my colleague, Cllr Richard Daly, to represent the people of Kildare South," he says. "We will be working together during the election campaign to show how we'll tackle the short and long-term challenges facing Kildare."
"It's time for a change of Government. The Fine Gael team in Kildare South has both the knowledge and experience to change things for the better."
1999-2002 Chairman of European Movement Ireland
1994 -1999 Fine Gael MEP for Constituency of Leinster
(The highest attending Irish M.E.P. 1994-1999)
Irish Member of The Committee of Inquiry into BSE
Member of E.P. Agriculture Committee
Vice President of the African-Carribean-Pacific Development Assembly
Member of the E.P. Development Committee
1990-1994 President of the Irish Farmers' Association
Awarded the prestigious Legion D'Honneur by the French
Government for service to European Agriculture
1992-1994 Senior Vice President of COPA
(European Farmers' Organisation)
1986-1990 Deputy President of I.F.A.
1982-1986 Chairman of National Liquid Milk Group
Chairman of Advisory Council on Animal Health
and Disease Eradication
Member of Board of The National Enterprise Agency
1978-1983 Chairman of Leinster Milk Producers
1976-1984 Chairman of IFA National Animal Health Committee
1967-1970 Chairman of Kildare Co. Executive of IFA
NOTE: The above is taken from the Fine Gael Website, as Mr Gillis didn't respond to an invitation to be interviewed by the Diary.
Brian Byrne.
One way or another, Jane Mullins has been around politics for most of her working life, as a local journalist in Kildare, as an activist with community and social organisations, and as a founder of Positive Action, the Hepatitis C group seeking redress over the notorious infected Anti-D serum.
In those activities she worked on the opposite side to politicians, so to speak. Her decision to run as the Progressive Democrats candidate in Kildare South somewhat reverses her role. She considered it carefully before agreeing to Senator John Dardis's request to stand for his party.
In Newbridge, like Kilcullen today, she had seen huge and rapid growth, but very little in terms of social infrastructure. Having been involved with organisations like the Goodwill Housing Cooperative and Newbridge Community Development, she concluded that a next step had to be taken if further progress is to be achieved.
"We had taken a number of issues so far, but it was still difficult to take them home," she says. "So I said I wanted to stand for politics, because I wanted to make a difference."
Choosing to run with the PDs was pragmatic in one part, but she reveals a strong underlying admiration for the party. "Obviously by providing me with the opportunity to stand, the Progressive Democrats are giving me the support that's needed. As an independent, it would be impossible at this stage, I think, to run a successful campaign.
"I have valued how the Progressive Democrats have made huge changes, and had a huge role in the Irish economy. We've a different Ireland now, and I think that's largely due to the influence of the Progressive Democrats in Government over the last ten years."
She believes that her three decades in journalism is a good foundation for working as a public representative in a constituency like Kildare South.
"As a local journalist you're very involved in what happens locally, and what is important in people's lives. Your interest in stories like how leachate from a dump is poured into sewers goes beyond the story. You know it's wrong, you know that systems need to be put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. So it has been an easy transition ... apart from having to answer questions rather than asking them."
Jane is well aware, though, that the role she is chasing now is somewhat different to her activism in her previous non-journalistic activities, like the Anti-D affair.
"In those you were doing something because it had to be done. It was, if you like, 'heart and passion' stuff. Now I'm asking people to trust in me, and trust in what I believe I can bring as a politician for Kildare South in the Dail. I think I've shown a record of achievement, of not being afraid to raise issues ... I hope that voters will see that and give me their number one vote."
The issues raised on her campaign so far are what she terms the 'lifestyle' ones in an area like Kilcullen which has seen a huge change in the population.
"People are wondering about the simple things, like footpaths linking them to town so they can walk their children to school or the children can go to school themselves without having to walk on the road. Or where are the playgrounds?
"In terms of the economy there is money there to do these things. If you travel to other counties you'll see that other towns have fine playgrounds, have footpaths that go from A to Z ... in Kildare South I don't think we've got a good deal in terms of the basic infrastructural services."
She also believes that the local economy must stay strong so that it can provide jobs locally and people don't have to face the endless commuter trek to Dublin every day.
From her work in Kilcullen over the years she recalls the huge spirit of pride which the community has displayed through decades, and also the 'doldrum years', when Kilcullen wasn't growing because the sewerage infrastructure wasn't there.
"But that has gone very rapidly to huge growth, and there is an enormous challenge, such as how the main street copes with the increased traffic. There are fears about schools, will there be enough secondary school places for when the youngsters now in primary school are ready for it in six or seven years' time? They are big issues and they need serious planning.
"Kilcullen has seen enormous change, and will see even more in the future. The infrastructure plan for Kilcullen isn't great, but the growth plan is in terms of the Kilcullen/Naas/Newbridge area. We have a strategy which has been imposed on us, with very little public consultation. We have problems now, but there are going to be a lot more."
Jane Mullins knows her new political fight isn't easy in a constituency with just three seats and three strong incumbents. But she's out to fight the best campaign possible.
"I have a great team. We're working very hard and I'm getting a great response on the ground. I don't think anyone has a name on a seat ... we all come from different places as candidates, and we offer ourselves first and foremost. I'm coming as a Progressive Democrats candidate, with my record and my own personal integrity.
"I know people are proud of what Ireland has achieved ... and I think economically the Progressive Democrats have played a major part in that. I want to feel that we will have days with sunshine in our lives and not the dark depressing days of the eighties, and I hope that I am bringing something new to the campaign and that people will like what I offer."
Brian Byrne.
THE FULL INTERVIEW: This story is based on one of a series of Kilcullen Diary interviews with the General Election candidates in Kildare South. The interview itself is available here as a QuickTime streaming audio.
“Could you imagine if somebody in Croke Park was picking the Kilcullen football team? Wouldn’t that be madness?”
Cllr J J Power has a facility in illustrating national issues in a local way, and his comment about the football team is his way of demonstrating the Green Party attitude that decisions affecting a local area should be made locally.
“The Green Party is more about families, and people, and small communities,” this eldest scion of one of Kildare’s most political families says. “For instance, the people of Kilcullen should be able to make decisions that affect the people of Kilcullen, and it shouldn’t be Michael McDowell or Dick Roche doing it.”
And he figures that ‘if the world was right’, all tax and levies revenues raised in Kildare should in the first instance be available for spending in Kildare. “I believe that central Government should have to come cap in hand to the constituencies and make their case for funding for Government.”
All that apart, J J Power in his quest to gain a Green Party seat in Kildare South is concentrating on three key issues. “Education, health and crime. I’d be foolish to run on green issues only, you have to be led by the people on these things and these are the issues that have been most important to them for the last five years or so.”
The health issue he sees as mainly a problem with A&E. “If you can get into the system you’re looked after great, but as far as I can see, if you have to bring someone to A&E you might as well pack a lunch and a flask of coffee for while you’re waiting.”
He’s blunt about the Government mantra that they’ve never ‘thrown’ as much money at the problem. “I’ve looked at the figures, and while the numbers of nurses and doctors have risen a little, the number of administrators has gone up by a huge amount. And they’re working shorter hours and getting paid more than front line people. Just throwing money to get more administrators is not the answer.”
On public transport, J J envisages a greater support of developing rural transport initiatives like those piloted by ASK and the OAK partnership, especilly important to prevent isolation for elderly people in rural communities.
“For commutters, I’d want to see the railways getting serious, and extending their four-track improvement all the way to Athy. The Arrow service is not frequent enough as it is.”
Growing up in a family where his father was, literally, a power in Fianna Fail politics for so long, and his brother Sean currently serving as a junior minister in the Government, J J could either have gone the FF route many years ago of could have foresworn politics completely.
“My father did ask me to run for Fianna Fail, as I was the eldest, but I didn’t. I suppose I’m a bit of late developer, and when I was coopted to Kildare County Council about ten years ago to replace Sean English of the Green Party, I got a start.”
He didn’t get re-elected, on his own admission because ‘I didn’t have a clue how to run a campaign’. But in subsequent outings he did get back to Kildare County Council in his own right, as well as onto Naas Town Council. A contesting of the last by-election in Kildare North didn’t win him a seat.
These days, after working for the Post & Telegraphs for 30 years and subsequently taking a redundancy package, J J is in the middle of a Civil Engineering course at Carlow IT. He is also, following experience of serious illness in his family, living to a different agenda, where 'things that seemed so important aren't any more'. One of which is that he is no longer concerned about 'the fear of failure'.
“I suppose I’m a late developer. I’m running in Kildare South because it is important to have a Green presence, and if you want to have Green policies implemented, you have to be where the power is. There will eventually be a Green seat here, hopefully this time, but if not, in the next one.”
It’s all a case of the locality picking its own team …
Brian Byrne.
THE FULL INTERVIEW: This story is based on one of a series of Kilcullen Diary interviews with the General Election candidates in Kildare South. The interview itself is available here as a QuickTime streaming audio.
Being a school principal in Athy, it's not surprising that the main issue which motivates Richard Daly is education policy.
Although a founder member of Young Fine Gael and its first president in 1980, he pretty well eschewed politics after college until he came up against the usual frustrations relating to a new school building for St Brigid's Post Primary School.
"We were informed in 1999 that we were getting a replacement school, because of the condition of the current one and because we were in a designated disadvantaged area," he recalls. "But 1999 went by, and 2000 went by, and 2001 went by ... and the rest is history. I was really annoyed."
When local elections came around he was given the opportunity to put his voice forward politically as a Fine Gael councillor on Athy Town Council. He has been Cathaoirleach of that Council, and previously has served on Athy Chamber of Commerce, Athy Community Council, the Athy RAPID Team, Athy Action for Youth.
Now that he is one of the two candidates for FG in Kildare South, he says he has been 'appalled' to see the extent of the education disadvantage throughout the constituency. "And I might add here, that the school in Athy for which I first began campaigning is still without its new building. Not a block as been laid."
Becoming a councillor hasn't eased his frustrations much, as he finds that 'large bodies move slowly'. "I've had some small successes, but there are lots of major issues and that is what has prompted me to go to national level."
He believes that Kildare South needs people who will lobby very strongly for better resources and services, even ones which are taken for granted in other areas. For instance, the availability of broadband in Athy is poor, and even getting a landline phone connection in the urban area can take as long as 18 months.
"There's an amount of work to be done, and we need to prioritise at national level a lot of the issues down here. If we don't, there's very little you can do at local level."
Richard Daly has been at the forefront of road safety issues and transport users needs across Kildare. In particular he notes that many people moved into Kildare South from Dublin expecting that there would be an efficient rail commuter service back to their work.
"There isn't. What has happened is that we have become part of the Greater Dublin Area with its population moving down here, but we don't get the services for that."
Looking at the looming election in a three-seater with three strong incumbent TDs, Cllr Daly is nevertheless confident that FG has a chance of regaining the seat held previously by Alan Dukes. "No seat belongs to anybody, and what I'm getting at the doors is that people do want change. I think they're going to give a very strong message to the incumbent Government TDs here."
His profile in Athy is quite strong through having lived there for nine years and because of his work with many community and business organisations, so Cllr Daly is working hard to gain extra votes from the rest of the constituency.
"Newbridge is important to me, Kilcullen is, in fact every town in Kildare South is important. And in all of them people have the same issues, whether they are new residents or people who have lived in in the communities all their lives. They expect the services to be there, and they are not."
Back on his education beat, Cllr Daly notes that the under-resourcing is not necessarily a case of the money not being available, but poor management in its disbursement.
"Money which has been allocated for schools is actually being returned at the end of each year because it wasn't spent," he says. "The whole thing is a matter of organisation. For instance, with so many Dublin people coming out here, schools in inner cities are declining, while out here they are overcrowded."
Bottom line, it is all a matter of proper organisation, whether it is to do with schools, rail, or any of the other services. Richard Daly bluntly says the level of organisation at national level for all these services is 'appalling'.
"Give us a chance to change that, and judge us on what we deliver," he concludes.
Brian Byrne.
THE FULL INTERVIEW: This story is based on one of a series of Kilcullen Diary interviews with the General Election candidates in Kildare South. The interview itself is available here as a QuickTime streaming audio.
"It's not the other candidate who beats you, it's the people. If they don't want you, then that's it. If they don't want me, then I'll go on and do whatever God has ordained for me next."
It isn't that Jack Wall TD is expecting to lose his seat in the coming outing. He's looking to his third Dail now, and the recent opinion poll carried out for the Kildare Nationalist has him marginally heading the real poll in the summer election. But that doesn't make him complacent.
He has a philosophy rooted in his rural south Kildare social and political background. That you work for the people and the people vote for you if you do the work to their satisfaction. All politics truly is local.
It might seem strange that after a decade of the Celtic Tiger, and in an era where we've had to bring in immigrants to meet many of our worker needs, that Jack Wall's primary local concern is jobs.
But it is. Because of family life. He lives in a part of Leinster that is burgeoning with new people, but many of them have to commute daily long distance to their jobs in the Dublin area, where many of them came from.
“Quality of life must be of paramount importance,” he says. “To achieve that, a much greater amount of employment must be provided in south Kildare. To do away with commuting and give people time to be with their families and their kids.”
He’s critical of successive governments for failing to deliver decentralisation of jobs, both in industry and in the civil service. And also in the essential infrastructures, such as transport.
“Who’d have thought that we would have rail user groups in Kildare, Monasterevin and Newbridge, all trying to deal with Iarnroid Eireann to get better services so they can get home to their families earlier? We have people come out here who have never before had to deal with the fact that they work two hours away from their homes and families. Their whole lives have changed.”
He says it's ‘unbelievable’ that no new sizeable industry -- “capable of supporting a hundred or more jobs” -- has been located in south Kildare for at least 15 years.
That has led to a ‘haemorrhage’ of employment south of a line from Kilcullen across the county. “There simply hasn’t been any incentive to have industry located here, with the result that you have, for instance, people being bussed in from Mullingar, from south Kildare, to Intel and Hewlett Packard. And Kilcullen itself has never got the kind of industrial base I would like to see it have.”
Other issues close to the top of his constituents' agenda include healthcare and planning. On that latter he has a particular concern about the provision of properly planned recreational areas by developers.
“They’re just allowed put them anywhere, with no forethought. Probably the worst bit of land a developer has in his site. In residential estates you have to look at both sides; you have to have places where children can play games, and places where families can sit in safety. Both are necessary and both need to be properly thought out.”
Jack Wall has recently also highlighted the situation about Kilcullen’s garda strength, which hasn’t changed despite the fact that the town’s population has increased massively in recent years.
“It is totally out of sync. Kilcullen was always famous as an interlinked community, but there’s a whole new population there now. If you have a situation where the number of gardai in the station are not adequate to meet the needs of the community, then you have to find a way to appoint more.”
His party's policies are well outlined on the Labour Party website. But it's when somebody comes into his constituency office in Athy, or to one of his clinics in the other towns and villages of south Kildare, that Jack Wall hears what he needs to do. Those looking for help aren't so interested in policies as in what gets done.
And that's why, though well established in the national parliament for two Dails now, Jack Wall remains an old style politician, working always close to his roots. Not looking over his shoulder at the competition, but watching out for the people who'll decide whether or not he's worth returning for a third term.
Brian Byrne.
THE FULL INTERVIEW: This story is based on one of a series of Kilcullen Diary interviews with the General Election candidates in Kildare South. The interview itself is available here as a QuickTime streaming audio.
The political bombshell of the weekend in Kildare South was the announcement that Newbridge journalist Jane Mullins is to go forward as a Progressive Democrats candidate in the coming general election.
Senator Dardis unsuccessfully contested Kildare South for the PDs in 2002. The constituency is currently a three-seater with two Fianna Fail and one Labour representatives to Dail Eireann.
Jane Mullins is well-known not just throughout the constituency -- where as a journalist she has worked for the Kildare Nationalist, the Leinster Leader, and latterly as Editor of the Kildare Post -- but nationally as a founder member of the Hepatitis C lobby group Positive Action.
In Kilcullen she became a familiar figure in her early days of journalism when the then village was part of her 'beat' for the Kildare Nationalist. She has always maintained an interest in what goes on in what is now a rapidly growing town with the potential to be a political fulcrum in the Kildare South constituency.
As Chairperson of Positive Action she spearheaded an uncompromising and highly articulate campaign to achieve justice and compensation for the many women infected with Hepatitis C through the blood product Anti-D Immunoglobulin. The campaign led to the establishment of the Finlay Tribunal of Inquiry and a health care package.
In 1997 she was presented with a national Person of the Year award for her work with Positive Action. She was appointed to an Expert Group in the Department of Health by then Minister for Health, Brian Cowen, in September 1997. In 2004 she was appointed to the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service Board, a position she currently holds.
"The constituency needs a strong, committed voice to pursue the numerous issues that are not being tackled politically," she says. "I bring to the campaign my personal record of achievement both national and locally, my integrity and my experiences of living, raising a family and working in Kildare South."
Jane is stepping down from her position as Editor of the Kildare Post to go forward to the Progressive Democrats Kildare South selection convention in Newbridge on Thursday, 12 April.
Brian Byrne.
