Fitzer: ‘I came into my own’
INDEPENDENT candidate Peter Fitzpatrick was described as the ‘most transfer friendly’ candidate as counting went down to the wire on Monday afternoon.
The traditional divide between Dundalk and Drogheda voters didn’t seem to apply to ‘Fitzer’ as he scooped up transfers from across the county.
The Dundalk man faced the mammoth task of being elected as Louth’s first Independent TD since 1933, but his 2020 election journey got off to an impressive start with 6,085 first preference votes.
Speaking just ahead of the final count, he told the Argus: ‘If you had told me that I would get over 6,000 first preference votes, I would have taken it. I’m very happy with how it went. I did very well from transfers.’
He added: ‘I knew I would be fighting for the last seat, and it is working out that way, it really is a lotto for the last seat.’
His county wide appeal, he said came down to ‘a lot of hard work across the county over the last nine years.’
‘But I really feel that I came into my own over the last two years. People have really seen the true Peter Fitzpatrick.’
He said running his third election without the support, or indeed the confines of a party, had made it his ‘most enjoyable.’
With housing and homelessness being a major factor in this election, and one which pushed voters towards Sinn Fein, Fitzpatrick said he had seen for himself the devastating impact on people who became homeless.
‘It’s one thing I don’t regret, working with Sonia and the Save Our Homeless Dundalk. People don’t realise that once you’re homeless you are entitled to nothing, not a medical card, not social welfare. We set up a lot of PPS numbers over the last two years, and got a lot of GP cards for people who desperately needed them.’ He added: ‘I said going into this that no matter what happened I wanted to continue that work.’
He thanked all who supported him, saying: ‘It’s a proud day for me and my followers.’