The story of the 2024 Local Elections in Laois was undoubtedly the remarkable comeback of Fine Gael’s Vivienne Phelan.
The Stradbally woman was as much as 191 votes behind party colleague PJ Kelly at one stage and, as she admits herself, she believed her chances were gone.
Speaking on the LaoisToday Local Election Podcast following her success, Phelan gave her immediate reaction.
She said: “What a weekend. Still can’t believe it, it’s still very fresh. Saturday I wasn’t too hopeful, I’ll be honest, based on the tallies.
“I thought PJ (Kelly) had run a strong campaign – my party colleague – and I thought he was definitely going to take the seat. So I’d kind of written myself off on Saturday.”
What does it feel like to think that you have come up short?
Phelan said: “Oh shocking. I suppose you’ve a different perspective when you’ve done it before.
“When you run a second time, you’re trying to learn from the first experience and put that into action. You’re hoping to get some kind of a result out of it.
“Come Sunday anyway I was getting messages from people saying ‘oh you might close the gap here and there,’ and I thought they were just being nice to me.
“Then today I came in and I was thinking I was coming in to shake hands with the others. I did not think I was going to be elected today, and I just can’t believe it.”
Phelan, like Labour’s Marie Tuohy in Portlaoise, were extremely transfer-friendly and got votes from everywhere.
She said: “I’m really heartened that I did get transfers from, first of all, different geographical areas and even from different political parties.
“That means a lot. You know, if people maybe didn’t want to give me the number one because they had already promised it to someone else, but they were happy to see a new face on the County Council.
“It shows how important it is getting out to vote and filling out the ballot paper – preferences can really make a difference.
“But it’s funny; Mam was describing how we were feeling earlier on and she says: ‘I was just getting on with my own life, I was out buying the potatoes, and then sure we may go in to the count centre’.
“The adrenaline is just pumping, I don’t know what’s happening, hardly; it’s an amazing feeling and I’ve absolutely no regrets.”
The Stradbally woman also had some nice words for her party colleague PJ Kelly.
She said: “What I will say: it’s obviously your worst nightmare to be against a party colleague, so my thoughts really are with PJ, who ran a very strong campaign.
“It cannot have been easy to be on the opposite (side), you know, to feel that things are going well and then lose out at the last minute.
“I would also like to say congratulations to everybody who was elected across the county; and fair play to everybody for putting themselves forward.
“I had been there in 2019, I know what it feels like to miss out, and it’s not easy, so my thoughts are with all of the people who were brave enough to go for it.”
Following her election, she joins Fianna Fail’s Paschal McEvoy in being the second Councillor from Stradbally.
This, according to Phelan, is something that can only be a positive thing for the ‘Little Town’.
She said: “Hopefully it’s really positive for the community. It’s always god to have more voices, it’s a help. And I think I will work well with Cllr McEvoy – we both have the town’s best interests at heart.
“It’s a good day for the people of Stradbally, but that said, I will be a County Councillor for everybody in the area.”
You can listen to the episode in full below:
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 Local Election coverage here
