PA ROMPS HOME
Fine Gael’s Pa O’Driscoll last week said that winning a seat on both Cork County Council and Fermoy Town Council feels better than he expected. The first time candidate followed a high-profile campaign by topping the first preference count at county level and coming in second on Fermoy Town Council, a return even he was surprised at. The new councillor was thrilled when asked if it was as good as expected.
“Better. I thought I would be in with a shout in the fight for the last seat, but to top the poll was certainly unexpected. We did a lot of work and I had a big team behind me who got a positive response over on the campaign trail, but to top the poll was something we never expected.”
O’Driscoll was upbeat for the future of the town of Fermoy following the elections.
“Fermoy is central to the region and Fermoy town has not progressed greatly over the past decade and therefore it needs a new and fresh approach from the town council. There are some new faces on the council and hopefully we will be working together to bring about a real and positive change,” he said.
The secondary school teacher and former president of Young Fine Gael cited the votes he received in villages outside Fermoy, including his native Rathcormac, as crucial to his victory.
“I made sure that Fermoy was my base but the people of Rathcormac, Bartlemy and Castlelyons, Conna, Ballynoe came out to support me in huge numbers, and I am extremely grateful for that.
“The Rathcormac and Bartlemy boxes really came out in my favour. I suppose with a family stretching back three generations in the area and my involvement in the GAA, scouts and community council was serious help,” he said.
Mr. O’Driscoll’s achievement in topping the first preference poll was an impressive accomplishment considering it was his first campaign, and he explained the strategy behind the exhaustive campaign that won his seat.
“I suppose we did a lot of work between July and September in Fermoy and after that we concentrated on places like Kilworth, Glanworth and Ballyhooly where we might have not expected a large vote, but there were a lot of people I knew from different organisations who I hoped would turn out. We put ourselves out there, explained our ideas and hopes and it paid off,” he explained.
Published:
Thursday 11th June 6:36pm
