Sherlock - ‘one of the toughest political battles I have ever fought’
MALLOW TD ADMITS THERE WERE TIMES HE THOUGHT HE MIGHT HAVE TO ‘DUST OFF MY CV’
SPEAKING to The Corkman immediately after becoming the first Labour TD to be elected to Dáil Eireann in the entire country, Deputy Séan Sherlock was clearly a very relieved man.
The Mallow-based TD, first elected in the Cork East constituency in 2007, candidly admitted there were times during last Sunday’s protracted count when he thought he might have to start looking for another career.
“Yes, there were many stages today when I thought the game was up. I had a conversation with my wife this morning where I said ‘ look, if it doesn’t work out today, I’m going to have to dust off the CV and re-invent myself. But, thankfully, it all worked out,” said Deputy Sherlock.
“It’s been a gruelling day at the end of one of the toughest political battles that I have ever fought, but we are used to days like this. My late father (Joe) first put his name on the ballot paper back in 1967, so we have been on the road a long time. In 2007 when I was first elected we had a long day as well, so I am used to days like this,” he added.
Deputy Sherlock said he was “very proud” to have retained the seat for the Labour party and “immensely grateful” to the voters of Cork East for their votes of confidence in him.
“I can’t say enough about the people of north and east Cork and the respect I have for those people due to the warmth that I experienced from people on the doorsteps. It was much different to 2016. we had just come out of Government in 2016 and were being hunted away from doors,” he said.
“I’m immensely grateful for giving me this mandate. Making the quota was the icing on the cake, and I hope to do them proud at their representative in Dáil Eireann. There are so many issues affecting people such as health and housing. These issues haven’t gone away and will be as prevalent next week as they were before today. So we have a lot of work to do.”
Deputy Sherlock conceded the Labour party would “have to do some talking internally” about its future direction once the final result of #GE2020 was known but that it was “too early for that just yet.”
In the meantime, he said the massive vote Sinn Féin received, both within Cork East and nationally, was a clear indication that the voting public have said they want to see the party in Government.
“Nobody expected the rollercoaster, the Tsunami of Sinn Féin votes. I was picking up inklings of it on the doorsteps and that obviously translated into votes and we have to respect the fact they received such a strong mandate,” said Deputy Sherlock.
“I think that now there is an onus on them to do business with another party and a moral obligation on parties, Fianna Fáil in particular whatever about Fine Gael, to talk to them and form a Government. I think that is the bottom line.