Kelly to contest local elections

ANOTHER candidate has thrown their hat in the ring to contest this year’s local elections. Leonard Kelly yesterday (Monday) confirmed his intention to run as an independent candidate and started his campaign in earnest.

This will not be Kelly’s first experience of an election, having run unsuccessful campaigns as an independent local election candidate in 2014 and in the 2016 General Election where he ran as a candidate for The Social Democrats.

While Kelly had previously indicated that he was taking a step back from politics, he stated that he was looking forward to getting out and meeting the people of Wexford and discussing the issues facing them.

‘I will be conducting a stripped back and simple campaign,’ he said in a statement. ‘Those of you who know me know I love ideas, love discussion and conversation and love to talk. But most importantly, I love getting things done. I intend talking to as many people as possible in Wexford over the coming months. This will be an opportunity for me to talk to you about my hopes and ideas for Wexford.’

Kelly narrowly missed out on being elected to the council in 2014, having managed 411 first preference votes, putting him above the likes of Joe Ryan and Jim Allen at the time. However, transfers played a big part and Kelly was eliminated in count 15. In 2016, Kelly ran a solid campaign for the Dáil, but was eliminated on count 7 with a respectable 2,179 votes.

A trained counselling psychotherapist and life coach, Kelly has a significant public profile through his involvement with local organisations like Friends of It’s Good To Talk, Community Minds and Rising Voices, along with successful projects such as the Wexford Little Libraries. He also served on the board of Wexford Educate Together.