For a political junkie such as myself this election was very interesting. The various ins and outs have been covered pretty well already but the issue remains that there were more than a few suprises such as both Sid and Corcoran Kennedy not being elected to the County Council.
Lone Shark wrote:
As for Sid, it's always hard to tell how "celebrity" candidates will do, but having met him since he decided to run, I have to confess to having been quite impressed. I'm not saying I'd have agreed with everything he stood for, but he actually seemed to have a genuine political agenda of stuff he cared about and felt needed work, and that's a lot more than can be said for a lot of candidates.
This may be true, but nonetheless with only four seats available it is easy to see where he was caught out. Ormond was always going to get in, Percy, whatever his ability, did well, as expected, with the Kinnity/Coolderry vote while both O'Loughlin and Carroll are two lefty socialist politicains who do a trojan amount of canvassing in and around the areas where they feel votes are on offer. I agree with LS, O'Loughlin is not a strong candidate nor is he a good politician but he has his core of followers who will follow his cult through thick and thin.
Sid may indeed have had good plans but to the ordinary tabloid reading Joe Soap this does not matter because most people haven't a clue what the County Council or indeed their Town Council does. Take the people of Birr for example: Who do they thank for their the new hospital, new library, new swimming pool and so on and so forth acquired during the last number of years? Town Council, County Council or Central Government? My guess is that most would thank the latter and few would ascribe those successes to the hard work of any particular town or county counciler Therefore most people will just vote for party and with the Cowen effect still ensuring a strong support for Fianna Fail it is not suprising to see where the squeeze occured. Indeed look at Ann Hynes Spain and Sean Doorley, two town councillers who few could argue did a trojan amount of work on Birr town council, enough that logically should surely merit re-election, yet both were discarded with Hynes-Spain doing particulary poorly.
A similar tale can be spun for Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, all those with insight and interest into the local scene are suprised to say the least that she was not re-elected. Yet the volatility of local elections coupled with general ignorance of what those elected actually do means that anything is possible.
