Laois Local Election Q & A: 'New blood and change badly needed'

What are your priorities?

At local level, It’s Affordable Housing and Health. Planning laws need to be reformed, and councillors need to implement it. Primary Care units need to be built and staffed and funded efficiently, including dental care and mental health.

What is the biggest issue facing your area?

Our roads are literally sinking in some places. Our towns and villages are full of people who care about the community they live in, they need to be embraced and supported with public transport supports, school facilities and ASD classes. Local business, crime prevention schemes, mental health supports, community taxis, public lighting all need to be urgently addressed.

Why do you think you would make a good County Councillor?

I am a Rathdowney woman; I have pretty much worked in every single town and village in this area throughout the years. New blood and change is badly needed. People want to be represented by someone who is not just seen at election time. They want to be confident that they are personally represented in the Council and that the budget that they pay for with their taxes is used in the best possible way.

I will work full time to make sure that accountability becomes the norm, and the budget is directed into the facilities that are so badly needed. A public representative should never lose sight of the fact that they are there to “represent the people who choose them to represent them”. That is what they will get from me.

Helen Campion is a candidate in the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District. In the lead up to polling day on June 7 we will be featuring profiles on all 47 candidates vying for a seat on Laois County Council.