1.
There was a lot of different views expressed by shoppers in relation to the upcoming General Election at Longford Shopping Centre in recent days. Housing, the cost of living, the regeneration of Longford Town, public order and further support for the Defence Forces are just some of the issues local people will consider before casting their vote. One of the main topics when the election is being discussed is whether Longford candidates can secure two seats. Fianna Fáil TD Joe Flaherty was elected in 2020 and secured the second of four seats in the Longford-Westmeath constituency following a nail-biting final count in Athlone, which saw him pick up 2,828 votes from Fine Gael's Micheál Carrigy.In 2020 Sinn Féin's Sorca Clarke gotaround 3,500 from county Longford and where those votes go this time could be a key factor.
2.
“My outlook is always Defence Forces related first of all and in years gone by Fianna Fáil closed Longford (barracks) on me. I was 12 years in Longford and I'm based in Westmeath now. Morale is up and down because we can see what's happening in the Lebanon and the issues over there and retention is a huge problem in the army. Without having a minister you don't really have much, my time is coming to an end but the army is failing because of past governments. I haven't decided how I'll vote because my intentions are to talk to any of them that come to my door and I'm not politically minded and never have been. The way I look at it is how did closing the barracks in Longford? The money that came into the town that was generated by it was huge.”
![“Housing is a big issue, I have three kids and they are all living abroad and they can't consider coming homing home because of the house prices anywhere in Ireland. They are in Shanghai, Berlin, they're all well-educated and happy as Larry but none of them will come home because of that and a lot of their mates are in the same position. I am the chairman of Longford TidyTowns I think there is very slow progress in relation to climate change mitigation. Not everybody thinks about that but that is one the areas I think about a lot and it is part of TidyTowns and it is part of the future for our kids and everybody. I don't see the government really [addressing it]. It's being delegated to voluntary groups who have limited budgets.”](https://www.connachttribune.ie/jpim-static/image/2026/05/15/01/iconic-upload-2024_11_27-ILOL-22-11-24_Longford_Vox_Pop_5_30224843-1732710503955.jpg?crop=4:3&trim=&width=800)
3.
“Housing is a big issue, I have three kids and they are all living abroad and they can't consider coming homing home because of the house prices anywhere in Ireland. They are in Shanghai, Berlin, they're all well-educated and happy as Larry but none of them will come home because of that and a lot of their mates are in the same position. I am the chairman of Longford TidyTowns I think there is very slow progress in relation to climate change mitigation. Not everybody thinks about that but that is one the areas I think about a lot and it is part of TidyTowns and it is part of the future for our kids and everybody. I don't see the government really [addressing it]. It's being delegated to voluntary groups who have limited budgets.”
4.
"I think the main issues are housing, health, the usual things, it's particularly difficult on the younger generation when it comes to housing. I vote Green so environmental issues would be big on my agenda and I feel there is very little focus on the green issues in this election campaign. I will be giving the Green Party candidate Carol Okeke my number one preference. The next government needs to take the biodiversity crisis seriously and address the never-ending onslaught on the countryside. We need farmers and we need to bring them along as well and we need the policies to address both issues so we get farming and we get wildlife. I would liked to see rewards based payments for sustainable farming and everybody has to be included, it cannot just be the small farmer or the organic farmer."