Veteran campaigner Joe Queenan appeals for west Sligo voters to ‘vote local’

OUTGOING Cllr Joe Queenan is one of the most experienced members of Sligo County Council with 25 years' uninterrupted service on the local authority having been first elected in 1999.

Contesting his sixth local election having been returned in all five previous elections since 1999, Queenan, an independent candidate who freely admits his DNA is very much from the Fianna Fáil gene pool, has appealed to voters in west Sligo to vote local to ensure what he terms “our side of the mountain” returns two candidates.

The reference to the mountain is something voters in the Enniscrone, EaskeyRathlee areas and more where the Ox mountains dominate the landscape, will be familiar with. Voters have seen Queenan and his close friend, Cllr Michael Clarke, like Queenan, a former Fianna Fáil card carrier, returned time and again to represent the area on Sligo County Council.

It's clear from talking to Cllr Queenan that he remains close to his Fianna Fáil roots, and he revealed that councillors in Sligo from that party had raised his return to the party with senior party officials in Dublin. He's very open about the link and reveals approaches to return him to the fold have been made by others.

“Over the last number of years numerous letters have been sent to HQ.

“The councillors asked that I would be brought back into Fianna Fáil but when this went to Dublin, they got no response either way, so I continue as I am.”

He left in 2015, but he harbours no bitterness, quite the opposite based on this unsolicited comment: “I owe a lot to Fianna Fáil, I have held various posts such as chair of the Council which I would not have got had I not been a member of the party.

“I will acknowledge that Fianna Fáil when they select candidates to run in elections have not put a candidate into west Sligo to contest the seat, and that makes it a little easier for me to win a seat, so I want to say that publicly, I want to recognise that they have done that since I left the party in 2015.

“However, to be honest, I think I'm probably better off now being an independent, but I have close links to Fianna Fáil, my DNA would be FF, I won't deny that but I'm an independent now and that's the way it is,” he said.

Asked about his close links to fellow councillors such as Cllr Michael Clarke, also an independent who once ran for Fianna Fáil, he says he believes his approach is the right one.

“When people here elect you, they don't want to see you taking swipes at other political groups or councillors for the sake of taking a swipe. That's not the way to go and people want me, if they vote for me, to work with others to improve life for them and their families in this county. The last thing they want is me wasting time taking side swipes at others because they are from another party.

“This is local politics and the best way to get results is to work together and myself and Michael do that, but I work with everyone. I wouldn't be shy to say my bit, but grandstanding won't get the job done and people want results, so that's why we work together in this electoral area, and we're well known for it because it works.

“The officials know we all work together in this area and if we come looking, they know it's a united front and that approach has worked here in the Ballymote Tubbercurry electoral area, that's why we do it this way, it works, and they listen.”

ELECTION VICTORIES

He was first elected to the Council on June 13, 1999, a date that he doesn't find hard to remember because it was also the date of his birthday.

He won the seat by 14 votes on the fourth count, defeating independent candidate Gabriel Healy for the third and final seat in what was then the Dromore electoral area. The other two seats incidentally were won by Fine Gael candidates, Paul Conmy and Mary Barrett while Michael Clarke who ran in that election failed to get a seat but would do so two elections later in 2009.

Queenan contested the seat for Fianna Fáil four times, the last time to do so for that party in 2014 where he was contesting a seat in the newly established Ballymote Tubbercurry electoral area.

By December 2015 he had left the Fianna Fáil party and since then has sat on Sligo County Council as an independent, but those who know him best say he remains very much a Fianna Fáil supporter in all but name.

LOCAL ISSUES

He told the Sligo Weekender he was focusing his campaign on local issues which he says “are the only issues we can deal with and have a say on”.

He says he has seen “motion after motion going from Council meetings to Dublin with only a civil servant acknowledging it. They will do nothing about it, to me that's a waste of time, so I put my attention to things we can have an impact on and change or improve. Others see it differently, and that's their right, but I don't see the point in writing to civil servants thinking ministers see what you are saying”.”

For Cllr Queenan the number one issue in this year's election is housing.

“The need for more housing is by far the biggest issue for so many people, it is raised constantly and, in this area, where I look after people it is a major concern, particularly in Enniscrone, but in rural areas too, and this is a largely rural place with Enniscrone the main town and a cluster of villages.

“In Enniscrone the lack of housing is extremely acute as we have had no house building for a decade now.

“I'm glad to report that Sligo County Council have acquired land, and the indications are they will be applying to the Government sometime this year to build 14 houses in Enniscrone. If that comes through it will be a big boost.

“The situation here is desperate and yet it is ironic that during the boom times Enniscrone built 400 holiday homes via tax incentive schemes and when the collapse came there were more than 100 of those houses effectively abandoned, but all of those have been resold, some have been let, and they are all occupied. We now have a crisis again because there has been no building since,” he said.

In the area he said figures suggest there are up to 30 families in need of housing, but that figure is not an accurate reflection of the real demand as various criteria exclude many who need houses from that list.

“The true figure is much higher, and we need to tackle this. There's huge demand for houses here, partly because Enniscrone is a place where people want to live. We have a great secondary school, lots of other facilities and services, Waterpoint and more. We are close to Ballina where there are good job opportunities with companies such as Hollister, Coca Cola and civil service jobs based in the town which means demand for houses is high and prices are high also as it is a place where people want to live.

“Every day of the week I am getting calls from people looking for longterm rentals and others who want social housing, it largely just does not exist here, so we need to address that here, I use the word crisis, because if you live here, you know that's what it is.”

AN UNEXPECTED ISSUE

While housing is the major issue, Cllr Queenan says some might be surprised to read that one of the other main issues being raised constantly with him on the doorsteps is the speed with which vehicles are driving through rural villages in west Sligo.

“In every village I have been in people are telling me they are concerned by the speed with which traffic is passing by their door. Vehicles are travelling too fast and in our villages more engineering work needs to be done to help force drivers to reduce their speed and we also need more enforcement.

“You can talk all you want about An Garda Síochána, but if we put in more ramps and more signage both will help slow the traffic down. If re-elected I will be pushing for more ramps and signs in places like Easkey and Enniscrone,” he said.

Referring to LIS and CIS schemes which provide funding mainly for road repairs he is critical of how the monies allocated through both schemes have reduced or in the case of LIS schemes disappeared - “no monies have come through at all”.

It's these schemes which are the bread and butter for many councillors, and he's not happy as monies dry up or become a trickle: “The funding we got for CIS schemes might be enough to do seven or eight roads in the entire county, it's just paltry and the allocation of €380,000 before Christmas will do little to help us tackle the need for decent infrastructure,” he added.

PLANNING

The Enniscrone-based councillor is convinced that changes to the new County Development Plan to be considered by councillors this Monday can change the landscape in terms of easing regulations that have stopped people from building private homes in his area.

Buffer zones brought in by the existing development plan have precluded people who don't own the land they want to build on from doing so, he explains: “Those buffer zones were huge, they went right up to the Mayo border, it was crazy when this was brought in nine years ago.

“The intention was to stop people from Ballina from building houses in rural areas. But the buffer zones will be substantially reduced and will be much closer to Enniscrone which will allow more people to build houses. This will free up the Castleconnor and Kilglass areas and allow house building there.

“That restriction stopped at least 20 families from building houses in the area. Getting that buffer zone reduced in the new plan which we will be working on when we meet this Monday will make a huge difference and that's vital,” he says.

Asked why he wants to be a county councillor he agrees that less people are putting their names forward to seek election. Less people want to run in general he believes and part of the reason for that he believes is that some people don't see the value of being a county councillor.

“It's a challenge, but I enjoy it. “I love being a councillor, I am as enthusiastic as I was the first day I was elected. In fact I'm more enthusiastic now than ever about it because I can see as I gain more experience I am able to deal with issues in a different way, my approach is totally different than 25 years ago and I get results. Some of the results might be small achievements, but they are all important and if they make life better for people here, then that gives me a kick, that's all I want from it,” he says.

Asked why people should vote for him, he puts great emphasis on his experience and his accessibility, day, or night: “I am available to meet the people seven days a week, from 7 in the morning to ten at night. I have my own business in Enniscrone and I can be got day or night to talk to. People know where I am, and my door is always open.

“I'm happier meeting people in my hardware shop than sitting at home watching television, if you want me, you'll get me, that's the way I am, that's important and I don't hide from any issue, big or small. Who am I to say something is a small issue? If you have a problem, it's a big deal to you and I treat everyone the same, no frills, no big, long speeches, I just like to hear the problem and if I can help you, I will and that's where my experience comes in now.

“This is not my first rodeo, and I will do my level best to look after people here, that's why I was elected, and I have no notions otherwise. I take two weeks off for a holiday and after that I'm here if you want me and you need advice or action,” he said.

“Very often I might give you an answer which might not be the most popular answer, but I think it's better to be straight up and tell people what is achievable and what isn't,” he adds.

WORKAHOLIC

64 years old, married to Anne with five children, Joe is a self-employed businessperson with a shop and an animal feed business. He readily admits he is something of a workaholic and loves going out on the hustings, meeting people.

A political junkie, apart from work his only other distraction is going to “an odd football game”.

“I like to say it as I see it, I respect other people's view, but I have my own opinion too and I'm not afraid to speak my mind,” he says with a certainty that could never be doubted.

For Joe the key areas where he needs to pick up votes to reach a quota which is likely to be circa 2,000 votes again this time are Enniscrone, Castleconnor, Culleens, Kilglass, Easkey-Rathlee and he will pick up votes too in Templeboy and Dromore West.

Never one to miss an opportunity, he made a direct appeal to voters to vote for west Sligo candidates to ensure that the area returns two councillors.

“There are enough votes to elect two from our area, but if they start voting ‘across the mountain' we will end up with only one,” he says.

For three elections now voters have ensured his side of the mountain has had two councillors elected and Joe Queenan is determined that this has worked well for his area. “People vote local and while there are five candidates in west Sligo, I would hope myself and Michael Clarke will be returned again,” he says.