Independent Councillor Ollie Clooney was re-elected to Laois County Council on Monday after polling extremely well in Durrow.
There will be many familiar faces in the Borris in Ossory/Mountmellick Municipal district as Ollie is one of six sitting councillors who were all re-elected.
This is thanks to a great support from the members of his home Dunmore which is in the parish of Durrow.
Out of the two polling boxes in Durrow, he accumulated a whopping 787 votes while next highest was at 31.
This is a mighty testamant of appreciation for Ollie in this area since he was first elected.
After being overlooked by Fine Gael in 2019, Ollie ran independently as he sought to fill the vacancy of a candidate, let alone a councillor in the Durrow/Cullohill area.
After being elected in 2019 and going through another strenuous electoral campaign, “Clooney, Clooney Clooney” is back for another term as he spoke to Steven Miller on the LaoisToday Local Election Podcast with the help of his grandaughters Lucy and Anna.
Ollie, who is a tillage farmer admitted that he was late to get his election campaign underway due to the poor weather and heavy workload on the farm.
However when he eventually made time to knock on doors and hang up posters, he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
He said: “I got a huge welcome in my parish. That gave me the inspiration to carry on. I was amazed by the vote that I got”.
Durrow strongly supported the Dunmore man as he accumulated over 80% of the votes in the town. This was very emotional for the Councillor as he recalls hearing the tallies being recorded in Scoil Críost Rí on Saturday.
He said: “I was a worker all my life. I have worked hard for the last five years and you know onwards and upwards.
“When I saw the Durrow boxes, tears came out of my eyes.
“Genuinely, when the teller was calling ‘Clooney, Clooney, Clooney’, I couldn’t believe it.
“Despite having ministers and everything in at my doorstep, Clooney, Clooney, Clooney, a small vegetable farmer, was getting votes.”
Despite other candidates seeing Ollie as a weakness or possibly a sitting councillor that could be replaced, he stood firm and crossed the line with 1650 votes on the 10th count.
He said: ”They saw me as an independent candidate that would be easy to take out. But the people of Cullohill and the surrounding areas, Ballacolla, gave their answer and I got a fabulous vote.”
Now, another five years lies ahead and he is hoping to be just as successful as his first in a term which saw him become the Borris/Mountmellick chairman, reject a one way street proposal through Durrow and achieve funding for a much needed carpark for Rathdowney.
However Clooney isn’t satisfied with the work he has done and claimed that he was “disappointed” that he wasn’t able to achieve as much as he would have liked.
He is insistent that there is more that can be done in Durrow and the surrounding areas.
Ollie was bursting with pride when given the nubes on the tally boxes in his locality and he can’t wait to represent them in the chamber for the next five years.
He said: “They certainly gave their answer, it was a vote of confidence in me and I will always do my best for them”.
Before closing off he thanked Steven for his time and said “A lot done, more to do” before he went to celebrate being elected with his family.
You can listen to the episode in full below:
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 Local Election coverage here
SEE ALSO – Vivienne Phelan: ‘What a weekend … I’d written myself off on Saturday’
