Innovative Sheehan ‘top class’ – Martin
FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin said Cllr Michael Sheehan would make a first class TD as he is an all rounder with a grasp of the issues affecting the people of Co Wexford.
Brimming with confidence, Mr Martin met with local businesspeople about the future of New Ross, saying afterwards that he got a warm reception from everyone.
‘ There is clearly some momentum to the campaign here. People have taken their time at the door debating issues. There is a lot of engagement around the issues of housing, health and the insurance cost and the impact on businesses. Childcare, rents and obviously housing and crime are on everybody’s mind at the moment because of the horrific moments over the last few days,’ Mr Martin said at Visit New Ross.
He said: ‘People feel outside of the M50 is forgotten. I do think New Ross does need a TD,’ adding that he is confidence the new bypass will work for the town, making it more accessible. Mr Martin described Cllr Sheehan as a thinking, deep, serious politician who puts a lot of work into developing his plans and strategies.
‘He works very hard on the council and is a very innovative, resourceful type of candidate. He does a lot of work for people in terms of resources for getting to school, for people from a disadvantaged background. On the other hand he is very good with businesspeople and has a genuine commitment to public service. He has a great grasp of what New Ross and Co Wexford needs from education to housing, to entrepreneurship, to tourism and I think he would be a first class representative for this region in the Dáil.’
He said New Ross was always very strong for Fianna Fáil, along with the county. ‘We are running four candidates and are pushing for three (seats). I know that sounds very ambitious as we just got the second seat in the by-election. It will be very tough as we have a much more fragmented electoral landscape today than we had in the past. We want to retain the two and if we can push for the third we will. I think we have a very competitive team. 2016 was a recovery election for Fianna Fáil. We gained 24 seats. So we ran conservatively in many constituencies to win back seats where we had no seats. This election is different as we have added additional candidates so you have much stronger, competitive teams in different constituencies of Fianna Fáil and Wexford is the classic example of that.’
He thinks the competition is strong with outgoing ministers who are experienced at running campaigns and new people going forward. ‘You have a good mix here with a lot of candidates. It will go to a lot of counts.’