Fianna Fáil’s Seamus McDonald will soon begin his fifth decade in local politics, having first been elected in 1985.
Cllr McDonald was successfully re-elected in the Borris-in-Ossory-Mountmellick Municipal District on the 10th count, after a ding-dong battle with Fine Gael’s Paddy Buggy.
“I was first elected in 1985, 39 years ago and I have been successful in every election since then,” Cllr McDonald told LaoisToday.
“Now I’m successful again today in getting re-elected to represent the people of the Borris in Ossory-Mountmellick area as I have done in the past.
“I get great help from my family and I get great support from the community in Ballyfin, Clonaslee, Rosenallis and they look out for me.
“They gave me a great vote and the canvassing helped me along the way. Only for that I probably wouldn’t have been re-elected and I do really appreciate it.”
Cllr McDonald admitted he was “a bit worried” about how well Mr Buggy was doing, but says he is delighted to be back doing a job he enjoys so much.
“I was a bit worried when I saw the tallies,” he said. “My friend and colleague Paddy Buggy was ahead of me, Paddy had a great campaign also.
“Unfortunately he wasn’t successful but I’m looking forward to working for the community for the next five years.
“I still get the same satisfaction out of it as I did when I first started out. I love working with people and representing them, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but I always try.”
The experienced politician set out his hopes and goals for the next term of LAois County Council:
“I have a lot of aspirations to fulfil now,” he said. “I’d love to see additional local authority housing built in the villages. There’s very few houses built in rural villages for a long time now.
“There’s a number of people on the housing waiting list in those areas. I’ll be working hard to get the land zoned again in the next county development plan so that housing can be built in those areas.
“I’ll be working hard to get the land zoned again in the next county development plan so that houses can be built in those areas.”
You can listen to the episode in full below:
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