Anti-abortion candidate from Wicklow joins race

THE latest addition to the Wexford by-election ticket is Independent candidate Charlie Keddy who hails from Kilcoole in County Wicklow.

Keddy has been running in local and national elections in his native county since 1985 and describes himself as a ‘single-issue candidate’, that issue being the provision of abortion in Ireland.

‘I’m anti-abortion, that’s why I’m in,’ said Mr Keddy. ‘ The others will be campaigning to build houses, build roads, but my only concern is the unborn baby.

I want to keep anti-abortion going, these things drift, and people need to be kept aware of it. A lot of people say it’s done and dusted, but I’ll be keeping at it.’

In addition to running in Wexford, Mr Keddy (75) will also be contesting the by-elections in Fingal, Dublin MidWest and Cork North- Central, his intention being to provide a voice for those who oppose abortion.

Discussing his political background, Keddy said, ‘I would have been very left leaning at the beginning, and I was so left leaning they made me leader of the Labour branch in Kilcoole. I went Independent straight away after that, I like to able to say what I want.

‘I was always against service charges, and was fighting against the water charges when no-one else was, but the issue of abortion was always uppermost in my mind.’

Away from politics Mr Keddy was a member of the Red Cross for 25 years and also had a lengthy career in the GAA, representing Wicklow in hurling for 20 years.