Kelleher survives in Town defeated in County

It was as impossible to imagine the defeat of Kathleen Kelleher as a county councillor as it was easy to accept that her fellow traveller Eleanor Roche would be defeated on Greystones Town Council. 

Few individuals in this town are so dedicated to work in the community. But the fact remains, the 2009 local electorate with a fickle sweep of its hand wiped her name off the agendas of a wide range of local government committees at county level. Her interest in planning and development is with a hawk’s eye for detail. 

Ms Kelleher came to prominence in the Town Council election of 1999 winning a fifth seat in a crowd of 14 candidates. Punch Kathleen Kelleher’s name “+Greystones” into Google and in 24 seconds 2640 entries show up. 

The weblinks associate her with work as an administrator in the Cancer Support Group and volunteer on Greystones Tidy Towns committee, town and county council activities and that of her chosen party, Fianna Faíl. 

In local politics we tend to vote for people we know, rather than their stated politics, but not at this election with the economy in such a calamitous state.  In her soul-searching, Kathleen will find countless factors on which to lay blame for her political demise but chief among them must be the morass left behind by Bertie Ahern’s leadership in government. 

Like many other honest community workers her reputation was damaged by association with the Fianna Fail Party. 

Her work ethic is not damaged, however. Hard though it may be for her to accept now, her life, indeed her health, will gain from being forced to quit the fractious life of a county politician. She has energy, a fine sense of humanity and great capabilities as an organiser which will continue to serve her well as a town councillor.