My wedding plans have to wait, says TD Helen
FINE Gael TD Helen McEntee has just got engaged but is putting wedding planning on the back burner to focus her efforts on another big occasion – the election.
The 29-year-old Fine Gael TD said ‘yes’ over Christmas, three years after the tragic death of her father, former Minister of State Shane McEntee.
Her fiancé is Paul Hickey, who is himself the former parliamentary assistant to Gaeltacht minister Joe McHugh. Mr Hickey proposed on a New Year’s break the couple took in Connemara.
‘He went down on his knee and it was all a complete shock to me,’ Helen declared. ‘We’re both obviously delighted.’
But there are no imminent wedding plans, because Ms McEntee wants to extend her nearly three years in the Dáil in the election expected next month.
Ms McEntee, who had been her father’s parliamentary assistant, stormed home in a by-election in Meath East in March 2013 with over 9,350 first preferences. She said: ‘We have an election to focus on at the moment. We had a little bit of a celebration and we’ll park it there for a while.’
Ms McEntee, the Dáil’s second youngest TD after Minister of State Simon Harris, celebrated the moment by posing with her beau for an engagement picture on her Facebook page. ‘Before everything started back we just decided to go away,’ she said.
‘The two of us just wanted a break, so we went west. I wasn’t expecting him to propose.
‘He very much took me by surprise. But being the 1st of January, it was fantastic way to start the year off – as it will obviously be a busy one.’
Paul and Helen have been an item for the past four years, with the future groom having his origins in Castlecoote, Co. Roscommon, the political stomping ground of Fianna Fáil Senator Terry Leyden.
But while her wedding planning might have to be put on ice, the first dance is one area that shouldn’t need to worry too much about.
In March 2014, she came second in a Strictly Come Dancing fundraiser in her constituency.
‘We were given eight weeks to prepare. We were given the task of raising funds, selling tickets, and generating a bit of a buzz,’ she said at the time.
Ms McEntee and her dance partner Robbie Farrelly might even have topped the poll only for a slight mishap with her shoe that saw them pipped at the post.
Fine Gael will hope there is no such misfortune when they look to hold onto two out of three seats in Meath West, where Ms McEntee’s party colleague is Regina Doherty.
Dominic Hannigan of Labour, who spends much of his time in England, is not expected to hold on to the party’s breakthrough seat, where Fianna Fáil Senator Thomas Byrne is knocking on the door, while Sinn Féin is also a threat.
‘We’ve an election to focus on’