"Longford/Westmeath has lost a very good politician"

 

Kevin 'Boxer' Moran has said he will take time to reflect on his future after accepting that it would take a miracle for him to retain his Dail seat for Longford/Westmeath.

Speaking to the media at the count centre in AIT, Boxer predicted that Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail) will take the third seat with Peter Burke (Fine Gael) securing the final seat.

Stating that he enjoyed his time in the Dail, he said he would do it all over again, if asked.

“I'd say Longford/Westmeath has lost a very good politician in terms of what I delivered, and what I worked at."

He hit out at what he said was “hatred” on social media over the last couple of weeks against himself and his son Cllr Jamie Moran, which he said included an allegation that his son had been given a council house.

Slamming the conduct as “absolutely horrendous, disgraceful” he said, it shouldn't happen and called for the new Dail to fast-track a bill to cut out hate speech.

In an impassioned address to the media, he said: “My sons, John and Jamie, don't live in council houses, they don't do drugs, they are very respectful gassuns and work hard.”

“And Jamie, that they said is unemployed, Jamie is a councillor and works with me. So this bullshit that people are putting out there...”

He said he was thick-skinned and lets such comments pass over him.

“But for young people coming behind me (into politics), I worry for them.

Responding to a comment from a reporter that it was sad to see Athlone possibly losing a TD, he replied: “That's Athlone fault. It's not mine. I worked extremely hard and I want to pay tribute to the people who voted for me.”

Although, he said, he had worked extremely hard to earn their votes.

“We could end up with three TDs in Mullingar and one in Longford,” he remarked.

“I feel that I did an awful lot of justice for flooding all around the country.”

He predicted that the parties will come together and form a stable new Government stating:

“The last government wasn't to last for 12 months, it lasted four years.”

He said he believed people in Athlone will regret that when they cast their ballot they lost their own TD.

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