Former Longford TD Flaherty urged to ‘Troy’ Seanad

Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy, who was re-elected when he secured the fourth seat in the Longford-Westmeath constituency, has encouraged former Longford TD Joe Flaherty to run for the Seanad.

The Ballynacargy native, who secured the second highest number of first preference votes with 8,116, described it as a 'surprise and disappointment' the party were unable to secure two Dáil seats.

Deputy Troy was comfortably elected for a fourth time in four election campaigns at 3.40am on Monday morning during the 15th count with a total of 10,331 votes.

Delighted supporters hoisted him shoulder high as he celebrated, however, he acknowledged his success was marred by the loss of party colleague Flaherty.

"It was a surprise, I would have thought having won a seat against the odds in 2020 he would be able to maintain it this year," he said. "I know the work Joe has done in Longford over the last four years."

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Deputy Troy stated he observed him in 'action' in the parliamentary party and he was committed and dedicated.

"I saw him in action on the floor of the Dáil, I saw him meeting ministers and bringing delegations to meet ministers," he said.

"So, I know he was an extremely hard worker, a good colleague. I was surprised and it is a disappointment in terms of the overall result here in Longford-Westmeath to have lost a colleague."

Deputy Troy said he hopes the former TD will consider running for Seanad Éireann.

"I do think he has a contribution to make to national politics and I think Longford would be better served by having Joe in the senate and I have already said to him if he chooses that option I'd be happy to support him and work with him to get him into the Seanad if that is something he considers."

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Deputy Troy and Flaherty were unsurprisingly the biggest beneficiaries from the distribution of their running mate Dympna Cunniffe's 546 votes in count five with Troy gaining 110, while Flaherty collected 176.

However, apart from that their election results and their fortunes last weekend at TUS Athlone were poles apart.

"I'm very happy, this is my fourth general election to contest and fourth to win," Deputy Troy said. "Each election brought different challenges but as the boxes were opened and the first count was announced it was clear I was going to hold my seat but nevertheless it did take a number of counts to get to the conclusion."

Deputy Troy said he was relaxed and looking forward to getting down to business and doing the job he was elected to do, representing the people of Longford-Westmeath.

The former junior minister stated the results for two of the existing parties of government are quite strong and they have had four and a half years of working well together.

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He is confident they can form a government.

"Trust is there and the ability to work together," he said. "So, now what really needs to happen is to iron out a comprehensive programme for government so we can deliver the necessary changes and reforms that are needed and I suppose that will happen over the next number of weeks and we'll look forward to a new government being elected thereafter."

Deputy Troy insisted the region is fortunate to have an Enterprise Minister in Peter Burke at the moment.

"He campaigned very vigorously on keeping the minister in the area and it's now up to him, having kept the minister in the area, that he delivers for the area," he said. "For my part I continue to advocate for small businesses, but also what I think was one of the big things coming up on so many doors that we canvassed was access to services."

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Deputy Troy stressed that is an area he plans on focusing strongly on.

"Early intervention teams for children with special needs with a disability, mental health (were things mentioned)," he said.

"While the outgoing government has increased resources into these key areas it's clear that the benefits are not being felt by the people who need them and that is a change that we need to see happening quickly and that is something that I'll be advocating strongly on in my submissions for the programme for government and ensuring it is a high priority for the government going forward,” he concluded.