Earned, not given: Michael Lowry believes he has done enough to warrant re-election

One of Michael Lowry's main areas of concern ahead of the General Election is the traffic situation in Thurles.

He believes that a better traffic management plan needs to be put in place, with Thurles being one of the few towns in the country lacking several key traffic management features.

“We should have a proper traffic management plan. We’re the only town in the country that doesn’t have roundabouts, that doesn’t have traffic lights, that doesn’t have one-way streets. People are talking about a bypass. The first thing to do is get our own house in order, and do what we can do immediately to alleviate the congestion.

“The second thing we need is the link road, and then we can look at a bypass in the future,” he said.

Lowry wished to dispel the idea floating around that he will automatically be elected, saying that one can only be elected based on the votes they receive, and that he needs numbers of people out in force to get him back into the Dáil after the loss of what he says is over 5,000 votes to the Tipperary South constituency.

“You can’t win elections without voting, and everything about an election is on the day itself, so if people don’t drop in the number 1s for Michael Lowry on the day, I’m simply not going to get elected.

“So, I feel I have earned that, I’ve worked extremely hard.

“Politics is part of my life, it’s most of my life I’ve devoted to politics. I feel that I give good representation to everybody, irrespective of their background, but this nonsense that Michael Lowry is safe, that you can somehow or other magically get him in without votes, you can’t get elected without the number 1 votes, and I’m encouraging people not to listen to people who say I’m safe.

“If you want me to represent you, to continue to represent you in Dáil Éireann, you have to give me the number 1 vote.”