Mae(105) isoldest voterinthecountry

June 1997

Mae Duggan, Ardcavan, Wexford, made the national headlines on Friday as the oldest voter in the country to cast a ballot in the General Election. The polling station in the Ferrybank Leisure Centre was crowded with politicians, photographers, and an RTE camera crew - all waiting for the 105-year-old woman to arrive.

There was an air of expectation, with poll toppers Brendan Howlin and Ivan Yates and Fianna Fáil candidate Denis Asple all arriving to greet the loyal voter.

‘She’s 105 and she’s voted in everything bar one referendum since she got her vote,’ Brendan Howlin told Mr Asple as the media crew waited for Mrs Duggan.

The rain was coming down hard when Mae arrived, and the assembled photographers and RTE crew jockeyed for position in the crowded polling station.

Mrs Duggan got a celebrity reception as she made her way into the building, greeting Mr Howlin with the words ‘isn’t that awful weather?’

The elderly lady was slightly overcome by all the attention, and had to sit down and rest before collecting her ballot sheet.

Mr Howlin handed her a cup of water as the crowd waited for the polling day celebrity to recoup her strength.

‘Oh lovely, is that a drop of whiskey?’ she joked, as the assembled crowd laughed.

Mrs Duggan rested briefly, collected her ballot paper and marked her card before making her way to the ballot box.

She then posed for the cameras as she suspended her ballot sheet over the box.

‘Come on lads, or my arm will get tired!’ she told photographers, before smiling and adding, ‘ this is a laugh!’.

She wasn’t giving any secrets away however, and refused to be drawn when she was asked who she was voting for.

‘ Too many people around,’ she said, as the polling station laughed again. ‘Anyway, I’d never keep all these lads happy at the one time,’ she added, beckoning towards Howlin, Yates, and Asple.

Mae was accompanied by members of her family including daughter Maudie Kehoe, sonin-law Joe Kehoe, and niece Deirdre O’Brien. displeasure about the design of the new feature.

Now, members of the county’s arts community are also stating their unhappiness, with their specific complaint being that the project was not publicly advertised.

Artists around the county were not given the chance to tender, despite earlier approaches to Wexford Co. Council by local sculptors promoting the value of the 1% scheme.

Under new financial regulations, the Department of the Environment provides 1% of the cost of a major road or building project for the erection of a recreational or artistic feature to enhance the ara.

Wexford Co. Council decided to avail of the offer for the first time on completion of the new bridge and road improvement works in Enniscorthy 18 months ago.

£30,000 was allocated for the project and a local committee was then set up, comprising Council officials, public representatives, Arts Council members, and well-known architect, Arthur Gibney, to decide how it should be spent.

Acclaimed sculptor Conor Fallon, a native of Wexford town now living in Co. Wicklow, was awarded the contract. His creation, which features a fifteen-feet high stainless steel bird rising out of water, will be in situ by the end of the month.

Five others were also invited to submit designs for consideration, of which three responded.

Other artists are unhappy though that they did not have the opportunity to also submit designs by way of open tender.

A Council spokesman this week defended the decision to not go to public tender, saying it would have slowed down the project too much.

‘If we had done it by public competition, we would have got a huge number of entries. We wanted to proceed with the project speedily, because the money wouldn’t have been there forever,’ he said. put their careers on hold to spend two years spreading the word and trying to win converts for their faith, which has 11 million members worldwide.

Elder Howard comes from a town in California called Red Bluff. He says his interests are surfing, fishing, and skateboarding (you may have seen him on a skateboard on The Quays in Wexford!). He is one of six children and he previously lived in both Las Vegas and Utah. He is nearing the end of his mission, having already spent 20 months in Ireland.

Elder Peterson comes from the small farming community of Rexburg, Idaho. His interests are basketball, golf, snowmobiling, and four-wheeling. He also comes from a family of six.

One of the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as the Mormon church is officially known, teaches a health law called ‘ The Word of Wisdom’.

The young missionaries explained that this taught ‘not to take any harmful substances, such as tobacco, coffee, tea, alcohol, or other harmful drugs’.

‘ These things damage our physical bodies and harm our spirits,’ they said.

They also said their church has about 40 members in the Waterford/Wexford area, including three families in Wexford.

Asked how they were received in the town, the missionaries responded that they were invariably met with courtesy and interest.