Berry expects Fine Gael to gain seat at Fianna Fáil"s expense

Independent councillor Austin Berry has revealed his predictions for the Athlone Town Council election on June 5, stating that he expects Fine Gael to gain one seat at the expense of Fianna Fáil. Cllr Berry has been a member of the council for the last ten years but has decided not to seek re-election. He recently sat down with the Westmeath Independent and gave his views on how the election will go. 'This is Fine Gael"s year,' he said. 'I think they will have little problem coming back with three seats. There"s so much unrest and dissatisfaction among people that I don"t think Fianna Fáil have a hope of coming back with four seats. They will be lucky if they can hang onto three.' He stated that Fine Gael had 'four excellent candidates' in Athlone and, while it"s unlikely, he feels they have an outside chance of collecting four seats. 'Cllr Mark Cooney, of course, is a very accomplished and experienced local representative. Cllr Mick O"Connell has been working very hard ever since he was co-opted onto the council, and it"s known that he"s working very hard and doing great work. 'It"s Gabrielle McFadden"s first time out and I"m sure if she canvasses well the McFadden name will lead to her getting good support. It"s also Alan Shaw"s first time out and he"s another candidate who"s running a very good campaign,' he said. Cllr Berry feels that Sheila Buckley Byrne is 'by far' the strongest of the Independent candidates. 'If it was a horse race Sheila would be ten lengths ahead of the others,' he said. 'She"s very much involved in the local community with Rehab, the People of the Year awards, and St Hildas. She"s a seasoned campaigner. She has run two campaigns with Fianna Fail, losing by 13 votes in 1999 and missing out by 19 votes in 2004. I think the vote will be there for her this time.' He expects Sinn Fein"s Cllr Paul Hogan to be re-elected, and said this could throw up an interesting scenario. 'If Fianna Fáil come back with three councillors, Paul Hogan supports them as he has done in the past and Sheila Buckley-Byrne also supports them, they would again hold the balance of power for the next council term. That"s a possibility and it"s something people are wondering about,' he said. Discussing Labour"s two candidates, he said Cllr Ray Lennon has been 'an excellent councillor - I"ve a lot of time for Ray,' and that Jim Henson also had a good chance this time around, as he had the experience of running campaigns in the past. In the weeks since he announced that he would not be seeking re-election, Cllr Berry said he has received an 'extraordinary' response from the public, with many people trying to convince him to change his mind. He said that he was 'quite confident' he would have been re-elected if he stood again, but that he had made up his mind and the matter was now history. However, his love for politics is as strong as ever and he said he will be monitoring the election results with great interest. The most important point he wanted to make was that people should exercise their right to vote on June 5. 'I would urge people to go out and vote, one way or another,' he said. '48% of people in Athlone did not vote in 2004, and I think that"s shameful. Those people who didn"t vote are the very ones who"ll go out the next day and complain about decisions that are being taken. I feel that if they don"t vote then they don"t have a right to complain. There"s a lot to consider when casting your vote, and I hope that we will have a good and just outcome.'