LABOUR’S SENATOR HAS POOR SHOWING
LABOUR party Senator Susan O’Keeffe has spoken of her disappointment at her poor showing in the polls. She polled just 1,829 first preference votes, gained only 623 transfers and was eliminated on the 7th count.
“Obviously I’m very disappointed. It was a hard day for the Labour Party, a tough day for me here. I’m proud of the time I spent as a public representative, as a senator. I worked very hard. But it was not to be,” she told this newspaper on her first appearance at the count centre on Sunday afternoon.
“The people have spoken, it is a democracy, they get to decide. It’s never easy to be beaten. It’s never easy to put your name on the ballot paper and to be defeated but there you are.
“There were certainly an amount of people saying they couldn’t possibly vote for me or the party, that it wouldn’t have mattered what I had done. That is the great strength of democracy, that it’s people opinions which chose the result,” she said.
Senator O’Keeffe pointed to her busy schedule in the Seanad and the fact that Sligo/ Leitrim was never a Labour party stronghold as some of the reasons for her failure to rate with voters.
“Clearly I would have been involved in the banking enquiry and so a lot of my time was taken up with that. And also, senators are not TDs, they have a different role. But whether the expectations are the same or not…” she said.
The Sligo Champion pointed out that Marc MacSharry is a senator and also served on the banking enquiry.
“Yes of course. For me also, you have to remember that I’m not from this part of the world. I came to live here. So I don’t have a large network in this area. Also the labour party is not as strong here as it would be in other parts of the country. So as with everything in life, it’s not black and white.
“A contributing factor is that the Labour party is not recognised or wanted nationally. I’m proud of what I’ve done in the public interest. I believe I did the best I could,” she said.
Senator O’Keeffe believes it’s too early to speculate on her next move but significantly, has not ruled out a return to the political fray:
“Absolutely. One thing you learn as you grow older and greyer is that you never make quick decisions. Obviously I will continue to be a senator until April and I will continue those duties in that space of time before I decide what to do with the next phase of my working life.
“People are talking about there being another election in three months, or six months or nine months or twelve months, who knows. There’s way too much going on, way too much confusion in the air. I will wait until the dust settles,” she added.