*Ruairí Keenan and Jacek Kazimierz Kwaśny. Photograph: John Mangan
LAST to enter the race in the Ennis Municipal District but first to be eliminated was the outcome for Polish native Jacek Kazimierz Kwaśny.
A software engineer with Vitalograph, Jacek has lived in Ireland since 2007 and relocated to Ennis in November 2021 to take up his current position.
Gaining experience and forcing a greater interaction with the community were among the reasons which propelled him to put his name on the ballot paper, not long after turning thirty in April.
He received 68 first preference votes and was eliminated on the second count. “The numbers were low but the spirits are high, I was late to the race so obviously people wouldn’t be looking to me and maybe they didn’t like my policies, from what I’ve seen there was lots of secondary choices for myself when the counting was happening,” Jacek told The Clare Echo following his elimination.
Entering the race earlier would have aided his cause, he acknowledged. “I probably would have started earlier, that would be the first thing, get prepared like other candidates, some of them were starting since February a year earlier, even like six months or two months earlier it would have made a difference”.
Having opted not to go door to door with his canvassing, use posters or advertising via local print media, Jacek’s profile was the lowest of the thirteen candidates in the field. He has not ruled out a future bid for politics, “We’ll see, I’d like to be involved and start again in five years but we’ll see what life will bring”.
Building a more active role with groups locally is needed he admitted if he were to gain a higher vote. “I would need to put myself out there with charities and group organisations, we’ll see”.
