I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for me on May 24th, along with the many people to helped me with my campaign.
My congratulations to the winning candidates in Dublin West. I’d like to pay tribute to Joe Higgins, a committed and hard-working TD, on the loss of his seat. I’d also like to say how sorry I was to see my Green Party colleague, Dan Boyle, lose his seat in Cork South Central. Dan will be sorely missed in the Dail.
Obviously I was a bit disappointed at the size of my first preference vote. I had been knocking on doors for the previous 10 months and the reaction I was getting on the doorsteps was really positive with people telling me they wanted change and that they wanted to see the Green Party in government. Unfortunately, like in most of the other constituencies across the country, during the last weeks of the campaign we got squeezed between the larger parties. At the same time, I was able to increase the Green Party vote by 1.3%, when all the other small parties in Dublin West lost ground when compared with 2002.
Our next objective in the constituency has to be to prepare for the local and European elections in 2009. I will continue to highlight the key issues on which I campaigned on in this election, namely education, planning, transport and the environment. Should the next government be led by Fianna Fail, as seems likely, I have no confidence that these issues will be addressed, considering that they have not been addressed over the last 10 years. We will be seeking to get councillors elected in the Castleknock and Mulhuddart wards, so that we can further represent the needs of Dublin 15 and advance the Green Agenda on Fingal County Council.
Again, my thanks for all the support and good wishes.
Roderic
