*Killaloe MD candidate Fiona Levie (SD) & Social Democrats leader, Holly Cairns (SD).
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS leader, Holly Cairns TD (SD) does not have a target on the amount of councillors the party is hoping to elect in the upcoming local elections but is confident on how their two Clare candidates will fare.
Hilary Tonge (SD) and Fiona Levie (SD) are running for the party in the Ennis Municipal District and Killaloe Municipal District for the June 7th elections bidding to become the party’s first ever elected representatives on Clare County Council.
They were joined by the party leader who toured Killaloe with Fiona and visited the Mná ag Gáire premises in Ennis, an organisation set up by Hilary.
For the 2019 local elections, the Social Democrats ran three candidates, Betty Walsh (SD) in the Shannon MD, Chris Kirwan (SD) in the Ennis MD and Beckha Doyle (SD) in the Killaloe MD. They received 4.26%, 1.5% and 1.96% of the first preference vote respectively in their areas.
When asked if any of the three candidates had been approached to run again for the party, Deputy Cairns admitted, “I’d have to say I don’t know, the selection process is up to the branches and the area, I wouldn’t be privy to the information”.
She believed their 2024 candidates had the potential to get elected. “We hope to get the two of them elected, Fiona in the Killaloe area and Hilary in Ennis, we couldn’t be prouder of the calibre of candidates we are standing in Clare. I know from the feedback people are getting on the doors when canvassing with and for Hilary and Fiona there is a lot of issues around access to healthcare here, vacancy, dereliction, development in towns and surrounding areas, what they are hearing is people want change and we can feel the bigger change in Irish politics happening at the moment, it is our ambition to stand as many people as possible because people are figuring out what kind of change they want, I know Fiona and Hilary are very hard working, dedicated and in touch with their communities and what they need. It is a really exciting time for us as a party and here in Clare to be running two candidates for the first time”.
On why the Clare public might be more amenable to vote for the Social Democrats now, she said, “We’ve done a lot since then, we’ve done a huge body of work to reach people and to tell them what we’re about, they are still learning about us. We know we are a young growing party and we have so much work to do, we’re working really hard to do that, we’d ask people for their trust to earn their support and try keep it going forward”.
She added, “It’s so important to have strong representation in Clare, we returned two councillors in Munster for the last local elections, now we have someone standing in every single county in Munster so we’ve grown fast and we have to keep up with that growth”.
Deputy Cairns said, “When I first ran for the local elections back in 2019 I lost by one vote but after a recount I won by one vote, to anybody reading who thinks what is the point, I guarantee you we are not the same, that is the reason we got into politics because of that exact feeling, if you want change you have to get out and vote”.
Nationally the party does not have a target on the amount of councillors they aspire to elect. “We haven’t set a figure, to be honest I’d be plucking one out of thin air and I wouldn’t do that, it is a fairly unpredictable time because there is such a change in the air”.
Former Cllr Paul Bugler (FG) speaking on The Electoral Chair, The Clare Echo’s political podcast described comments from politicians including Deputy Cairns following Leo Varadkar’s (FG) decision to resign as Taoiseach as “waspish”. The Cork woman said she stood by her remarks, “The first thing I said to Leo was that I wished him well on a personal level, he thanked me for kind remarks but that wasn’t really covered but everything I said after that I very much stand by. I wasn’t surprised by his reaction, this isn’t about personalities or careers, I don’t believe a personality change in Fine Gael will solve this crisis, that is the point I was trying to make and I 100 percent stand by my comments”.
Simon Harris’ (FG) appointment as Taoiseach could delay the next General Election, she predicted. She was confident the Social Democrats would have a role to play in forming the next Government after this election, “I don’t think anyone goes into politics to go into opposition but I’ve learned the importance of being there the last couple of years and holding the Government to account. Our aim and ambition is to implement social democratic policies, that is the aim, we don’t want to go in at any cost or for the sake of it, we need a mandate to have a positive impact so the more TDs we get the more of an impact we have on the programme for government, that is our main focus now”.
