Keogh 'elated' to be returned to council

John Keogh was elected on the seventh count with 1,442 votes in the Athlone electoral area (Roscommon) and said that he was “absolutely elated".

“It's incredible to get elected. It's particularly nice to reach the quota and have a bit of a surplus that might go back and help my colleague,” said Mr Keogh after he was elected. As it transpired later, Keogh's colleague, James Murray, didn't secure a seat and was eliminated on the ninth count.

The re-elected Fianna Fáíl councillor acknowledged that there had been a drop in his first preference votes compared with the last local election but said that his role as Cathaoirleach meant that he didn't have much time for canvassing.

“We expected that I wouldn't be able to get out in the campaign as much as other candidates. Other candidates were out from December and even before that. I just wasn't in a position to do that.”

He added that another factor for his fall in the polls compared to 2019 was the addition of “two strong new candidates" in Sam Brooks, who he said he knew was "going to do damage" to his first preference vote, along with Emer Kelly. “From my perspective, it didn't matter if I took the the first seat or the last seat, the important thing to me was to get elected.”

Mr Keogh said that there were rumours that was he going to “sail in” to a seat. “That narrative had got out there quite a bit and I've no doubt that that played a part in perhaps others getting the vote that I might have got because I got a large transfer of votes from one individual."

Speaking about the issues that arose on the doors during his canvass, Mr Keogh said that housing came up as many people with young families were living with their parents and trying to get onto the social housing ladder. “We have to be able to find a place where we can accommodate people who will find themselves in that situation,” he remarked.

He added that these people were working in good jobs but were unable to afford a mortgage. “The only way we can get the cost of construction down is to increase the supply but the only way that we can increase the supply at the rate that we have to do that is that we have the workers there to build it. We have to get the apprenticeship programmes rolled out and see more people qualifying in whatever the discipline is.”

Keogh was non-committal about any potential tilt for a Fianna Fáil nomination in the upcoming general election.

“It's not for me to decide whether I contest the general election for Fianna Fáil. It's for the membership to do so and perhaps I'll allow my name to go forward at a a future point, who knows, I'm not ruling anything in or out,” stated Mr Keogh.

He is supporting the call for a new supermarket as part of the joint retail strategy for Athlone, Bealnamulla and Monksland. “I would certainly hope that we will get a second supermarket in the area but I want to see it developed in such a way that it helps with the development of Monksland.”