New Laois Fianna Fáil candidate says Sinn Féin 'can't be trusted' and voting independent is a 'waste'

Austin Stack is not an unknown to Laois voters but he was a surprise addition to the General Election ticket when Fianna Fáil HQ entered him on the day the outgoing Taoiseach called the poll.

The Laois party members didn't object to him joining the race but weren't head over heels in pushing his candidacy. They felt a one-candidate strategy was the most sensible option. They took this view against the backdrop of Brian Stanley resigning from Sinn Féin.

The local take was shaped by previous failed efforts to unseat Mr Stanley.

But HQ probably felt they needed to show ambition to make gains around the country and Laois was worth a punt. And why not when Mr Stack was a willing and able candidate who has had a long family involvement with Fianna Fáil and knows election campaigns.

Election contests are unpredictable and HQ may have taken the view that it is better to be in the race for a second seat than not and regret it later.

The deal was sealed soon after Mr Stack spoke with Fianna Fáil General Secretary Sean Dorgan after no female candidate could be selected for the race.

Mr Stack is sure to resonate with a tranche of Laois voters. He is a recently retired prison officer who would be known to many from the campaign for justice for his father Brian. His dad was murdered by the IRA when he was a Chief Officer at Portlaoise Prison.

The now Fianna Fáil candidate has confronted Gerry Adams in public about the killing.

Mr Stack is also known for his involvement in the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee. Their campaign, backed by the public, prevented Portlaoise hospital from being downgraded. Mr Stack says it is this experience that gave him the motivation to believe he could achieve something for the people.

“What we did saved the hospital. I found during it that I had a voice and I could put that voice to good use,” he said.
He believes the town hall meetings in Portarlington, Mountrath, Rathdowney and elsewhere he spoke at were key to galvanising support alongside the march in 2017.

He said the Government at the time was not supportive but the committee worked behind the scenes politically to secure the hospital.

He said he has carried this activism locally in his Portlaoise housing estate. He is chairperson of the Resident's Association in Maryborough Village. Anti-social behaviour caused him to drive the setting up of the association.

“We managed to get the problem sorted,” he said. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Pictured: Austin Stack, on left, with his mother and brothers and former Minister of Justice Alan Shatter at the unveiling of a memorial to the late Brian Stack in the Irish Prison Service Training College in Portlaoise which was also named in Mr Stack senior who was murdered by the IRA while a serving prison officer in Portlaoise Prison.   

While tackling the issue he noted the need for community gardaí and said the Fianna Fáil plan to increase the number of community gardaí is really important.

“We need to restore confidence in the communities to make them feel safe,” he said.

As a former prison officer, Mr Stack will be able to relate to many voters in Laois who work in, or are connected to the Portlaoise's jails.

He believes overcrowding in jails is a problem for staff and prisoners which has to be dealt with. He backs community service as an alternative to jail but says more probation officers are needed to deliver this.

“I don't think the public is too worried about prison overcrowding but prison officers in Laois have to work in those conditions. If the prisoner conditions are bad it makes the prison officer conditions bad and dangerous,” he said.

Mr Stack believes 5,000 extra police as promised by his party and garda diversion projects will 'nip the problem in the bud'.
He said prison officers and other public servants in Laois need a strong voice given the numbers working and living here.
“Those people need somebody to stand up for them,” he said.

He also wants to work for the thousands of people who have to commute out of Laois to Dublin each day.

“I commuted to Dublin for about 11 months on the train so I understand what those people are going through,” he said.
He is aware of the cost on Laois commuters because the county's stations are not covered by the short hop travel ticket zone.

“It is €4 return from Kildare but it costs €28 from Portlaoise and Portarlington return because of this. So I would be lobbying strongly that the Laois stations are included in the short hop zone and we are not discriminated against even though the commuter trains all start in Portlaoise,” he said.

Mr Stack also wants action to improve the bus service out of Portlaoise.

He agrees however that more work needs to be done to create more jobs in Laois to reduce commuting.

While his canvas has been limited due to his late arrival into the campaign, Mr Stack says he has received a positive reception on the doorsteps.

“People are very content and satisfied with the performance of the Government and how life is. I'm not getting any negativity at all...I've only had one person mention housing. What people are mentioning is pedestrianising the Main Street in Portlaoise, playgrounds for the town, footpaths. So it is the local issues that are on the people's mind,” he said.

Mr Stack's fight for justice for his father garnered national attention. He hopes people will see the effort he has made as something he would bring to the Dáil.

“I hope people will look at me and say that I am resilient, tenacious and someone who says he is going to fight for something he is going to fight for it and not going to let it go until the job is done.

“I would hope people would see that as a character trait in a TD and that if they came to me if they have an issue that they want resolved that I would be someone who wouldn't let it go until it is resolved,” he said.

He pledges to take a stand.

“The public likes to see that. They don't like to see people hide behind nice flowery language and not take a stand,” he said.
As to his old foes Brian Stanley and Sinn Féin he wants both to be clear.

“Brian Stanley and Sinn Féin have to tell the full story as to what went on before the public go to vote,” he said.

However, he has a clear view on Sinn Féin from his personal experience dealing with Republicans.

“They are a party that cannot be trusted and a party that does not work to the normal rules and Brian Stanley knows that more than anyone else,” he said.

Mr Stack knows he is an outsider but says people should stick with political parties over independents.

“Independents don't really have a voice. It's very unusual that independents get to sit in Government...I really believe that a vote for an independent is a wasted vote because they can't influence how the country is governed...People need to vote for political parties irrespective of parties,” he said.

About Austin Stack

While he never contested an election Austin Stack has been involved with politics since growing up in a political household in Portlaoise.

His late father Brian Stack was a director of elections for Fianna Fáil in the 1970s.

He helped with Fianna Fáil election campaigns as a child. In his early adult years he joined Ógra Fianna Fáil.
He rose to fill national positions in the party's youth wing.

The regard in which he was held by his colleagues in Ógra and the party was reflected by the fact that he was chosen as the youth representative on the powerful Fianna Fáil National Executive.

During his time with the party as a young man he was actively involved locally in helping to organise and followed in the footsteps of his father as a director of elections in Laois.

He stepped back from politics on joining the Irish Prison Service as a prison officer.

In more recent years he joined the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee which successfully fought the downgrade of Portlaoise hospital with widespread public support across Laois.

He has also engaged with politicians across the country in fighting for justice for his father who was murdered by the IRA during the Troubles while a Chief Officer at Portlaoise Prison.

A divorcee, Mr Stack retired from the prison service earlier this year.

Now aged 56, he now works as a health and safety consultant but intends to stay in politics after this election.