Laois County Council is back to its full compliment as Paddy Buggy officially took his seat for the first time this morning.
Following the election of Willie Aird to the Dail last month, the Portlaoise man had to relinquish his Laois County Council seat.
At an event in the Killeshin Hotel last night, Paddy Buggy was selected, unopposed, as his replacement.
That meant that at the final monthly meeting of the year for Laois County Council, Buggy could could take the seat occupied by Aird for four decades.
His appointment was proposed by fellow Fine Gael Councillor Barry Walsh and seconded by John King.
Buggy grew up in Shaen outside Portlaoise and now lives in Kyletalisha. He attended The Heath NS, Portlaoise CBS and has an electronics degree from the old Carlow RTC.
He works as manager of the Mountmellick Development Association (MDA) but is also a part-time tillage and beef farmer with land in Clonaslee and at his home in Kyletalisha.
He has contested the Local Elections on three occasions, most recently in June when he got over 1,110 votes in the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick Municipal District.
He was in sixth place after the first count but ultimately lost out on the last seat to Fianna Fáil’s long-serving Seamus McDonald.
He had previously been a candidate in the Portlaoise area in 2009 when he was beaten by 11 votes by Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Fitzgerald in a marathon recount that went on for nearly a week.
Prior to that he had also contested the 2004 elections in the old Mountmellick area.
Speaking as he took his seat, Cllr Buggy said: “I want to thank Willie Aird for getting elected to Dail Eireann so I could take this seat.
“I’m not Willie, I have my own style and I hope to do things my own way.
“I want to thank my family, they have watched me lose plenty of elections over the years, so it is nice to win one.”
All of the sitting Councillors then officially welcomed Cllr Buggy to the chamber.
Cllr John King said: “You have worked tirelessly and fully deserve this opportunity.
“Life is strange sometimes, but when you stay plugging away, your luck will come. We are delighted to have Paddy on our team.”
Cathaoirleach Padraig Fleming said that Buggy has been ‘knocking on the door’ for a long time and that he knows ‘from working on committees with you, how valuable you will be’.
Catherine Fitzgerald welcomed Cllr Buggy and joked that up to now, his wife Zita had been a big supporter of hers.
Cllr Barry Walsh said it was his honour to propose Cllr Buggy at the convention and that he knows that he will make a big impact.
Cllrs Paschal McEvoy, Seamus McDonald, John Joe Fennelly, Paddy Bracken, Caroline Dwane-Stanley, Marie Tuohy, Ben Brennan, Aisling Moran and Vivienne Phelan also wished Cllr Buggy well.
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