"I am enjoying it better than any campaign in the last 30 years," says Brian Stanley

Independent Republican candidate Brian Stanley has a renewed fire in his belly after a bruising political departure from Sinn Féin only last month. 

The Portlaoise based candidate admits he wasn’t going to run in the wake of his highly publicised departure from Sinn Féin, who had accused him of gross misconduct, an allegation he strongly denies. 

“I wasn’t going to run. If I hopped out of the car and walked ten or twenty yards there was somebody stopping me over the last few months and saying to me to make sure to run. So, I decided for better or worse to do it and I have to say the campaign is going well. I am enjoying it. I am enjoying it better than any campaign in the last 30 years. It is good. I have great people around me and the response from the public is very, very good overall,” he revealed. 

Having topped the poll with 16,654 (Quota 11,574) first preference votes in the former five seat Laois Offaly constituency in 2020, well clear of the next nearest candidate Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen on 8,677, many will wonder how much of the vote was personal and how much was attributable to Sinn Féin. 

“This seat belongs to the people of Laois. It doesn’t belong to Brian Stanley. It doesn’t belong to Fianna Fáil, it doesn’t belong to Fine Gael, it doesn’t belong to Sinn Féin, contrary to what they may believe and as I say, it doesn’t belong to me. It’s the people’s seat, let the people decide,” said Mr Stanley. 

While seats may not belong to candidates, Mr Stanley conceded that the likely outcome of the election will see Fianna Fáil and Fine Geal winning seats in Laois. He believes he will attract new voters because he is no longer associated with Sinn Féin. 

He secured votes throughout the county in his last outing and is hopeful of a strong showing this time out. 

“I got a very good spread of votes throughout the county from the three electoral districts. The Portlaoise, Abbeyleix district, Ballinakill, when you take that middle of the county, that would have been the strongest, but there was a very  good vote all around. I would always try and service and raise issues to do with the whole county,” he said. 

Mr Stanley said his constituency office has been busy and he knows the issues that are important to the people of Laois.  

Housing, health, childcare, school places, dental services and just transition are all areas where Mr Stanley believes focus is needed. 

“You are meeting people with children who are renting who have a notice to quit, or who have just received notice that their rents are going up again. The so called rent pressure zones are fantasy. They are not working,” he said.  He wants to see  more cost rental and affordable housing provided. 

“In Laois County Council we have deliberately pushed for those for families who have no hope. Maybe they gone beyond 45 and they are not in a position to get a mortgage, maybe they are just above the limit for social housing on 37, 38, 39,000 gross. They haven’t a hope of getting a mortgage. Cost rental provides security of tenure. They have a lifetime tenancy, you have a rent that is index linked,” he said.  

“One of the ones that is coming up a huge amount is special needs children and the absence of services. This is one that is close to my heart, children on the autism spectrum waiting on diagnosis, receiving therapies. Having to go private, paying thousands for an assessment,” he said. 

The lack of school places in primary and secondary school is also a major issue he hopes to tackle. He wants more ASD classrooms as well and believes a further 11 will be needed next year.    

As an Independent Republican candidate, Mr Stanley is also keen to see progress on a united Ireland. He believes it will be time to focus on laying down the groundwork after the elections are over. He believes an economic argument must be made and won before any border poll takes place. He also said more emphasis is need on “winning hearts and minds” than lecturing people.   

If elected, Mr Stanley believes he can work with like minded Independents, naming the likes of Galway’s Catherine Connolly and Donegal’s Thomas Pringle, to achieve his aims. 

“What I will try and do is use my position as one member of 166 in the Dail and combine with a group of fairly like minded Independents, centre left,” he said. 

He said he was prepared to back worthwhile proposals from all parties. “I am not going to be politically sectarian about it. If somebody puts forward a good proposal, be it Labour, be it Sinn Fein, be it Soc Dems, be it whoever, or if government comes up with a good proposal,” he said.

Mr Stanley believes Independents could play an important role in the next government and he said the old way of two parties and a mudguard are over. As for his former party, he said, “Sinn Féin isn’t going into Government. They are not within an ass’s roar of government. That has been blown because they didn’t deal with the issues they needed to be addressed starting two years ago and they didn’t deal with their internal issues.” 

He asked people to look at his record as a former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, as a TD and as a Councillor before that.   

“Check my track record with regard to the Public Accounts Committee. Check my track record with regard to exposing the plan to closing the A&E unit and Pediatrics at Portlaoise Hospital. Check my record in relation to Abbeyleix Hospital, check my record in  relation to Mountmellick, campaigning for new schools, ASD units, a living wage for workers, a just transition for farmers and rural dwellers, scaling up retrofitting. Check my record in relation to disabilities, not just since I became a TD but when I was a councillor.”

“The question is do you want somebody who is effective, who has the experience, who has the commitment, who has the energy and I can tell you that if I had the energy when I first got elected 26 years ago as a councillor I have twice as much of it now. I am twice as motivated,” he said.  

Check out profiles of all the Laois general election candidates in the Leinster Express this week.