General Election candidate aims to be 'a very strong voice for small businesses in Tipperary'
Independent General Election candidate John O'Heney visited many businesses around Tipperary Town to ask what the issues are for them
Walking around Tipperary Town with General Election candidate Cllr John O’Heney I got to see first hand the issues facing the people of Tipperary Town. During my time following him we spoke with locals and businesses in the centre of town as well as a visit to a secondary school in the vicinity.
O’Heney is well known in Tipp Town and we stopped by almost every person passing to speak with them. We visited many small businesses and asked what the issues are for them in the context of a General Election, O'Heney seeing if he could be of any help to them as a local councillor and possibly a TD soon.
Speaking to Noel O’Dea, who owns O’Dea’s menswear shop in Tipperary Town, the first thing he said was the high VAT rate on school uniforms was a problem for s,all business owners as well as families. He said that the 23.5% VAT rate on older children’s school uniforms was unfair and meant that they’re expensive for families. He suggested this be lowered. Noel also said two hours free parking (not just during the month of Christmas) would be great for small businesses in the town to get more customers in.
O’Heney is also a county councillor so some of the issues being brought up were local ones. A local woman wanted O’Heney to see if he could ask the council to add speed ramps to the entrance of Kilross. She also mentioned another safety issue for the council, that there were no street lights in Scalaheen and these were needed urgently.
One man we ran into had a few concerns about the plans for the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction project which will bypass many towns, including Tipperary Town. John Kavanagh, a farmer whose land is part of the bypass plans, was worried that this long bypass was going to be unnecessarily expensive and cost the taxpayer a lot of money. He suggested that alternate roads be built alongside towns that HGV’s would travel through and this would be more economical. He worried that private companies building the roads have no incentive to do this as they are paid more the bigger and longer the road they build is.
One lady working in a restaurant asked O’Heney about getting on a bus service he helps organise for people that transports them for hip surgery from Tipperary Town to Northern Ireland. This exchange shows O'Heney is willing to help with any issue big or small.
As we headed into O’Heney’s old secondary school, where he was giving a talk to third years, I got to speak to some of those working in the school about issues for second level schools at the moment. They praised the free school books scheme but said there is still room for improvement in Irish schools. I was told that DEIS funding was a big issue and that none of the second level schools in Tipperary Town have DEIS status. This funding would help to reduce educational disadvantage and is badly needed, staff said.