Laois Today columnist and former Labour Senator John Whelan has confirmed that he is working on Gavin Duffy’s Presidential election campaign team.
The journalist, broadcaster and blogger is also a founding partner in media and PR company, Communicate Ireland.
John explains how he got involved in Gavin Duffy’s campaign.
“I was contacted by a colleague, Richard Moore, asking would I be interested in joining Gavin Duffy’s media team for the presidential election. I know Richard for years, going right back to his days as News Editor on the Irish Press when I worked for him.
He later went on to be a senior Government adviser during the Fianna Fáil governments of Bertie Ahern and he was also Sean Gallagher’s Director of Communications in the 2011 presidential election. Back then I was highly active and directly involved with Michael D Higgins’s campaign,” said John.
Why he got involved
He also spoke about the enjoyment he feels being able to combine two of his passions: media and politics.
“I love media and politics and where the two intersect is probably where I am most comfortable and at my best in terms of job satisfaction and expertise.
“After meeting Gavin Duffy a couple of weeks ago when he visited Portlaoise, we had a good chat, we hit it off and I joined his campaign team as Press Officer, supporting Richard Moore in his role as Director of Communications. It’s been flat out ever since, but most interesting and engaging, on a busy itinerary, under constant media scrutiny,” John added.
John says that he thinks there is more to Gavin Duffy, ‘than his Dragon’s Den persona’.
“I was pleasantly surprised by his sense of social justice, values, directness and vision for the kind of country we would like for our children and future generations and the challenges that lay ahead to achieve that. He is well-read, has a thorough knowledge of the Constitution, a good sense of humour and is open and receptive to ideas. When people meet him in person they are impressed.
“It sat well with me to hear him opposing the sell off of AIB, now that it’s back in profit again; his determination to hold the social media giants to account and to warn that we must ensure large corporations meet their responsibilities in terms of fair terms of employment and paying their due taxes.
“However, perhaps its no surprise from someone who has such a work ethic, who left school at eighteen and worked hard to achieve what he has and its a great experience working with him,” he concluded.
The Irish presidential election of 2018 will take place on Friday, 26 October.
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