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Cllr Mikey Sheehy after he was elected on Sunday with his family, wife Suzanne and children Róisín, Ailbhe and Caragh. Photo By : Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus LTD
THERE was something incongruous about the sight of Mikey Sheehy limping around the election count centre on Sunday, completely at odds with the manner of his vote in the Tralee MD.
The sitting Fianna Fáil councillor was bearing the effects of weeks of continuous canvassing, pounding the roads of the local electoral area, so his slow movements in the John Mitchels GAA Complex belied his performance where he cantered to the top of the poll in the Tralee area.
He nearly doubled his vote from 2019 (with the caveat that Norma Foley was also running back then) and was the only candidate to pass the quota on the first count.
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Despite the dodgy foot, he was in understandably in good spirits when we spoke to him on Sunday and asked him how he was feeling when he saw the tallies come in the day before.
“I spent the day tallying in Killarney myself with my team,” he said. “The nerves started to kick in before the boxes opened, but once they were, I could see it was positive day for us. Today I can say it’s an emotional day, it’s overwhelming and it didn’t hit me until this morning and Damien Ginty announced the result.”
Cllr Sheehy said the vote he received was five years in the making.
“I’m very proud, I’ve had a huge team out behind me — family, friends, supporters — we’ve worked extremely hard over the last three months, but the work really started five years ago after the last election and we’ve rolled up our sleeves working for the betterment of Tralee and the local area.”
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The Rockie, who lives among the Naries in Ballyvelly, is positive about the future and what the town already has to offer.
“I think Tralee is an incredible place to live, to work in and to visit as a tourist. I think we have so many things going for us as a town, in terms of tourism infrastructure, community infrastructure, we’ve a great town centre, an incredible Town Park, and we have 13km greenway from Tralee to Fenit.”
But the work goes on and he expressed his desire to work with fellow councillors, Council management and the HSE to bring other projects to fruition.
“We’re looking to deliver further facilities like a stand-alone chemotherapy unit at UHK — something I’m proud to be associated with and will keep on advocating for until it’s delivered — we’re looking for the rollout of further greenways, including one linking Tralee to Listowel, which is incredible exciting and we’re looking at the latest phase of work in the town centre from the Island of Geese to Rock Street which will regenerate that area. This is all about making the town a better place to visit and enjoy.”
“I’m a very proud Tralee man and I’m very proud that I’ll be sitting on the Tralee MD of Kerry County Council representing the people for the next five years,” added Cllr Sheehy.
A man in a hurry to start work again when the new Council meets on Friday week.
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