Increase in party vote no victory for Laois Sinn Fein candidate

Sinn Fein's Aidan Mullins is happy with his performance in the local elections but feels his party didn’t have their finger on the pulse.

The outgoing Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District councillor is expected to keep his seat. However, he believes his party will need to examine their election result. 

“I am just happy with the support I got in the area. It looks like there won’t be any change in the Municipal District with the six councillors will probably be returned unless there is a big change in the transfers. We are just delighted we held our vote although we won’t increase our representation on the council we actually increased the party’s vote in Laois, “ he said while waiting for the first count in Portlaoise. 

“I am very happy for young Aaron Kelly, a first timer. He polled very well. He had a great first preference vote, as  a matter of fact he is still in the race. The  transfers will determine where Aaron finishes up. A betting man might think he may not make it this time but he will come very, very close. It is going to augur well for the future for a young candidate like him,” he said. 

Mr Mullins said things hadn’t gone as well as hoped in Portlaoise. 

“We are going to have a look at that. The percentage vote should have been better. We need to find out why and we need to be honest with  ourselves because if we fool ourselves into thinking this is temporary it is not going to improve,” he said.  

He believes the party will need to take a look at the results and will have to figure out where things went wrong.  

“We are going to have to have a forensic look at where we went wrong, how we got it so wrong. The sort of anticipation that we are going to have a surge when we are dropping 15 points in the poll since October 2022. I think our candidate strategy was a bit flawed this time. We didn’t see the slump coming which we should have. I thought our finger wasn’t on the pulse. The signs were there that things weren’t going as planned and we didn’t respond quick enough,” he said.  

Mr Mullins feels the party didn’t properly address the concerns of the electorate and this will be an issue if they don’t react to those concerns ahead of a general election. 

“National issues actually impacted on this local election where normally they may not have the same impact. On the big issues like the referendum, immigration and the Hate Speech Bill, three major items over the last year to two years which are affecting the public and which 70 or 80 percent of the people have concerns about, we got them wrong every time. As the main opposition party we now have to look at ourselves. Why did we not read the room properly. Why have we not got our fingers on the pulse. Why weren’t we expressing the opinions of the majority of the people as you would in any democracy,” he admitted.