Johnny adjusting to life as a TD after landslide victory
FOR newly elected Sinn Féin TD for Wexford, Johnny Mythen, the focus of attention is now firmly fixed on the future.
Speaking to this newspaper, in the wake of his landslide and historic top-of-the-poll victory in the General Election, Deputy Mythen admitted he is still coming to terms with the position he now finds himself in.
‘Signing the Dáil roll was a very special day for me because of the historic nature of it,’ he said.
‘That was a huge honour; to sign that and be a part of history,’ he added.
Deputy Mythen is the first Sinn Féin TD for Wexford since the foundation of the State.
‘I am very honoured to have been given this opportunity by the people of Wexford,’ he said.
He said that upon entering Dáil Eireann for the first time his thoughts went to the people who died in 1798.
‘I am very proud of the county and its people and I will do my very best for them,’ he said.
‘You can’t help but think of the people in whose footsteps you are following,’ he added.
While his long term plan will be to help his party achieve the aim it set out in its election manifesto and in particular help ‘ordinary workers who deserve a break’ he said his immediate focus of attention is on the logistics involved in setting up a constituency office.
It’s something he admitted to this newspaper could take some months.
‘There is a lot of work involved in it and obviously all incoming new TDs have to adjust to their position,’ he said.
Constituency offices have to be served by special, secure internet due to the nature of business carried out in them and Deputy Mythen said such logistics could take some time to complete.
However, that won’t stop him beginning his work as a TD and he said for the moment he will be contactable ‘as normal’ by phone but he hopes to have his office set up as soon as is practical.
Such is the rise in popularity of Sinn Féin across the county there are calls for him to set up constituency offices in the other principal towns in the county outside of his home base in Enniscorthy.
However, he hasn’t thought that far ahead yet and said his first priority, from a logistics perspective, is setting up his office facilities in the Dáil.
Everyone in the Dáil has their own office space in Leinster House and they also have their own advisors and PAs.
However, appointing them takes time but Deputy Mythen is working hard at getting everything set up as soon as he can.
‘It all takes time but we would like to get it done as quick as we can,’ he said.
‘Most TDs say it takes around six months to get everything sorted because of contracts and general logistics,’ he said.
‘I will be holding clinics at the moment [for constituency work] because at the minute I’m essentially a one-man-band,’ he said.
Each TD is assigned a PA, however, he said Sinn Féin will a large number of new PAs as a result of its success in the election and while that’s good news it will take time to sort.
‘However, people can still contact me directly,’ he said.
Despite being based in Enniscorthy Deputy Mythen said his mandate is as a countywide representative and that’s something very important to him.
‘I love this county and its people and I am very proud to represent all of the people in Wexford,’ he said.