Troy ‘pleased’ with vote share in a ‘difficult election’

Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy successfully retained his seat in Longford Westmeath, surpassing the quota at the count centre at TUS in the early hours of Monday morning. This is Troy’s fourth successive general election victory, having first been elected a TD in 2011.

After tallying on Saturday afternoon, Troy sat second in first-preference votes, behind only Fine Gael’s Peter Burke. However, he was ultimately the fourth man elected after Burke, Sinn Féin’s Sorca Clarke, and Independent candidate Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.

Deputy Troy congratulated Minister Burke on an “exceptional first preference vote” and said that he “pleased” with own vote.

He added that with three outgoing TDs from the Mullingar area “it was always going to be a difficult election”.

“It was three TDs pulling from the one geographical area. It was always going to be a bit of a challenge.

“To finish second on the first count, to me, is an indication and a reflection, I think, of the work that I've done on the ground. I want to thank the people who came out and voted number one for me, putting their faith and confidence in me again.

“In this election, well, I suppose I have had my troubles over the last two years. It’s good to see that the people of Longford Westmeath still have trust in me, and acknowledged that my error was a mistake, and a genuine error.”

Although Fianna Fáil decreased its vote share in Longford Westmeath by 7.8%, it was a more positive weekend on a national scale for the party, where it received the highest vote share of any party (21.9%). As Fianna Fáil look poised to be in a position to form a coalition government, Troy outlined his priorities for the next term.

“I think the key priority here is that we have to establish and negotiate a new government and a programme for government, and key to that, to my mind, is going to be a reform of public services,” Troy explained.

“I think we need much greater accountability in our public services. We've seen some decisions over the last number of months particularly that have raised a lot of eyebrows and yet nobody is held accountable for these decisions.”

When asked about the issues that cropped up most when canvassing, Troy emphasised mental health, disability services, the cost of living, and housing.

“It came up so many times on the door that people have been unable to access services when they need them. And that's something that needs to be addressed. The last government has put a serious increase in resources in these areas, but it doesn't seem to be getting through to the people that need it,” he said.

“One other area I noticed when I was canvassing and not just this time, but during the local elections, was the whole area of social isolation and loneliness. And that's why I actually published a paper myself on this topic two months ago and I'd be looking when the party sits down to negotiate a programme for government to ensure that that we have commitments in that programme for government in those areas.”

Fianna Fáil is set to be in a position where it will be the largest party, so which parties does Robert Troy believe Fianna Fáil would be willing to negotiate with?

“Well, I think the outgoing government, while we didn't get everything right, we got far more right than we got wrong,” Troy said.

“We called all the big ticket items right, in terms of a response to Covid, in terms of supporting people through the cost of living, the war in Ukraine. You know, it has been huge international challenges as well as domestic challenges, and we've done a lot of good work over the last four and a half years together.”

“So, I think it’s the natural progression to build on the work that [Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael] have done already.”

He said his view was the party should continue on with Fine Gael and with a number of "like-minded independents.”

“I think we can put together a strong, stable government to govern this country for the next five years.

To my mind there's no reason why government formation can't be done in a number of weeks, and certainly at the very latest, early in the New Year.”