Fianna Fáil are once again the largest party in Laois, having won six of the 19 County Council seats on offer in last week’s Local Elections.
The party are rooted in the history of the State, and the new generation of Fianna Fáil have already began to put their head above the parapet.
At just 19 years of age, Joey Kennedy, who ran in the Graiguecullen-Portarlington Municipal District, was one of the youngest candidates in this year’s elections.
With the tallies coming to a close, Mr Kennedy joined LaoisToday in the Count Centre to discuss his campaign and how he came to enter politics.
“My grandfather, Joe hails from Cappancur in Tullamore,” Mr Kennedy said. “He had been a member of the Cumann there – unfortunately he’s passed – he was the longest member of Fianna Fáil in the country until his death at 97.
“My father was a member of Fianna Fáil, and I joined the Cumann with him. I was in Ógra Fianna Fáil and then I took over the president of the Cumann in Portarlington as well.”
The young Fianna Fáil candidate spoke about his friends, for whom he is something of an outlier.
“A lot of them weren’t (registered to vote) and I kind of gave out to them for that,” he said.
“Oh, they think I’m mad, but I still did it, and I had great support from my friends as well.
“It’s very unusual,” he said, referencing his young age. “But you know, you hear a lot of people giving out about young people, and we had an opening there for a young person – and hindsight is a great thing – it doesn’t look like I’m going to get in, and I don’t think I will, but there’s always next time.”
Mr Kennedy said he “loved” the experience of running for election, but bemoaned the short time he had to run his campaign.
“I was added to the ticket late; there was administration problems and all that; so only five weeks ago I got added to the ticket,” he said.
“I didn’t have as long as I would’ve wanted; but I think in that five weeks I made a massive impact.
“There was a bit of a mix-up with the tally; we missed the Portarlington Killenard Vicarstown. So I think at the last spreadsheet I got 578 first preferences.
“In five weeks – I’m very happy with that. And I got a lot of number 2’s as well.
“Aidan Mullins in Portarlington, who has done fantastic work in Portarlington, I got a lot of number 2’s off him; so we can see that there was a local vote there. And PJ Kelly, I got a lot of number 2’s off him.”
So the big question is: will he be putting himself forward for election once again in five years time?
“That’s a long way down the road, I wont tie myself down to that yet,” he said.
“Listen – I would be open to it. Because there is a Fianna Fail seat in Portarlington – Micky Costello and all them, Ray Cribbin.”
Mr Kennedy said he was “absolutely not; 100% not” turned off by the experience and hinted again that he is likely to be on the ticket in 2029.
“Next time I will make sure I’ve more time; five weeks – not a lot of time,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I was knocking on doors and I didn’t really get to chat to people. I was rushing to the next door because I wanted to get the ground covered.
“But next time I’ll be starting a lot earlier. But I’ll make my decision closer to the time.
“There’s no point sulking over it. Even though I didn’t win a seat, I still won today. 578 people trusted me with a first preference vote, in a campaign that started at the end of April – I’m delighted with that. That’s a win for me.”
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