*Joseph Woulfe. Photograph: John Mangan
Having come up short in bids to be elected at local and national level in the past nine months, Joseph Woulfe (IND) outlined that he has another election on the horizon over the coming weeks.
Elected as Chairperson of the Beef Plan Movement last month, Woulfe temporarily stepped aside to focus on canvassing with Pat Nagle taking on the role as interim Chairperson. “I’ve to be re-elected again, it will be my fourth election in less than a year,” the Quilty farmer and barber explained to The Clare Echo.
He only added 184 votes to his first preference in the General Election compared with his first preference return in last May’s local election. “I only canvassed about ten to fifteen churches, two shopping centres and you were with me for one of them, I went to the Mart three or four times, that was it. It took twenty four days, getting people together, people like to back someone that has been there before, that’s what they did”.
“I was aiming in and around the 3000 mark, the high 2000 to 3000 mark was where my head was at but that didn’t pan out, a lot of people in the room didn’t get what they expected they would either. It’s an election, something has happened, no more than the last election when Michael Harty got in”.
Woulfe equated the way the electorate vote with that of those considering to make a bet. “I look at the elections as a bit like betting on a horse, if you see a horse that has run the race before it is a better horse to bet on than a horse that hasn’t run the race, people want to back a winner”. His analogy is still in practice when The Clare Echo asks if Joseph will be putting his name on the ballot paper again, “Joseph Woulfe will be trotting around the field keeping the muscles toned”.
Overall Joseph is pleased to have went forward as he maintained the issues he campaigned on were brought to the fore and will be acted upon by Michael McNamara (IND). “We only knew Michael was running in the last couple of weeks, if he didn’t run there would be nobody at all to represent the farmers or tell the problems we have and give solutions. It’s a great idea that Joseph Woulfe does exist and he did run to represent the farmers as best he could”.
