Brian Stanley was re-elected to the Dail after Count 8 in the Laois Constituency at the General Election yesterday.
The former Sinn Fein man, now an Independent Republican, took one of the three available seats behind Willie Aird (Fine Gael) and Sean Fleming (Fianna Fail).
Speaking prior to the result being made absolutely official, Stanley said he was ‘humbled’ that people had voted for him once again.
He said: “The seat belongs to the people of Laois. The seat doesn’t belong to me. It doesn’t belong to any party.
“I’ve heard a lot of nonsense talk over the last four weeks, and a lot of arrogance and bluster around all of that. The seat belongs to the people of Laois.
“The people have decided for the fourth time, for the fourth general election, and I’ve lost count of the elections, council elections, before that I ran in, they’ve decided to elect me. And I’m humbled by that. It’s a great honour.”
The split between Sinn Fein and Stanley has been well documented at this stage.
And the Laois TD took a swipe at his former party – whose candidate Maria McCormack finished behind him in fourth place.
He said: “When I was in Sinn Féin, there was never one penny put into this constituency.
“And I just note that on this occasion, they poured money in. They poured thousands of Euros in.
“They brought people from the four corners of Ireland to boast through a campaign.
“They ran a very dirty campaign on the doorsteps. That continued right up to the Thursday night. Late Thursday night, they were still at it, on doorsteps.”
Now that he is back in the Dail, what are Stanley’s main priorities?
He said: “I am only one person, but I’ll be using that to the best of my ability to represent those people and to keep to the fore the issues that matter here in the county.
“You know, the hospital services, the need for improved infrastructure in some of the towns and villages around the county, the whole issue of the need for affordable housing to buy and rent. That’s a key issue.
“The need to improve services for children who are on the autism spectrum. That’s a massive issue in the constituency. They’re the issues that I’ve been working on.
“And the new health facilities that are needed throughout the county, including here in Portlaoise where we still don’t have a primary care centre in a town of almost 30,000 people.
“That needs to be rectified. There’s health centres needed also in Mountrath, Boriris-In-Ossory, Rathdowney and Graiguecullen.
“They all need to be upgraded or replaced as well. And they’re the issues that matter to people. And we need to continue pushing the IDA for more employment in the area as well.
“We’re still the lowest ranking, the lowest amount of IDA jobs. We’re even lower than Leitrim, which is a scandal. We have the infrastructure.
“I’ll be continuing to support the efforts of the council in terms of the Togher Business Park. I supported the efforts of them to buy that land. I know Caroline (his wife) did as well.
“We felt that was very, very important. And it’s great to see jobs there now, and rates coming in from that, and the money that’s coming into the local economy. We need to see more of that.
“Stop people having to go to Dublin to work. You know, there’s still too many people commuting out of the county every morning. So we need to get people back working in the county.”
When the counting of votes finally concludes, attention will turn to the formation of government.
With Fianna Fail and Fine Gael close to an overall majority, the prospect doing a deal with a group of Independents is now a distinct possibility.
Now out of Sinn Fein, is this something Stanley would be willing to discuss?
He said: “Well, the party that I was in won’t be in government. That’s a certainty. They’re irrelevant as far as government formation are concerned.
“I’ll be looking as a left Republican, right, somebody who wants progressive policies to help workers and families and good public services.
“But very importantly, what the parties don’t focus on, none of the big parties focus on, is the need to spend taxpayers’ money properly. There’s very little thought about that.
“Everybody talks about how much money we’re going to throw at this, that or the other. The key issue is how we spend that money. That’s going to be an issue for me, and that we improve public services.
“So what I would say to you is this, is that I’ll be, in the first instance, there’s a few other independents who we’ll be talking to.
“I’ll be trying to coalesce in some way, in some way even in a technical group, with some others. And we’ll see how we use that.”
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