Housing supply and sorry state of the roads steering the debate in north Meath

Electorate: 27,565

Seats 7

Sitting Councillors:

Mike Bray (FF), Eugene Cassidy (FG), Sean Drew (FF), Michael Gallagher (SF), David Gilroy (IND), Paul McCabe (FF), Sarah Reilly (FG)

Candidates:

Peter Caffrey (SF), Cormac Corr (IND), Oliver 'Figgy' Curran (SF), Peter Devin (Aontú), Colm Mac an tSionnaigh (Ind Ireland), Seamus McGee (FG), Paddy Rennick (FF).

While 33 female candidates are putting themselves forward as candidates for Meath County Council across the six municipal districts, just one female is running in the Kells area- sitting Fine Gael councillor Sarah Reilly.

There are 14 runners declared in Kells and just like last time Reilly is the only female going forward. In 2019 she was elected on the first count with 1,966 votes, just 30 behind Fianna Fáil's Sean Drew who topped the poll in the last two elections and will be seeking to do the same again.

A long time in local politics, Drew was on Kells Town Council from 2002 to 2014 before being elected to Meath County Council that year and has held his seat since then. Having announced his decision not to run in February, Drew was persuaded by the party to reconsider and the lack of a strong candidate in the town, may have influenced his decision to throw his hat in the ring.

Fianna Fáil currently has three sitting councillors in Kells, with Drew joined by first-timers Paul McCabe from Moynalty and Mike Bray from Fordstown on the last outing in 2019. McCabe and Bray are both young, energetic councillors and can be reasonably confident of holding on to their seats. Paddy Rennick from Oldcastle was also added to the ticket but will have some ground to make up as a relatively entrant to the race.

Apart from Reilly, Fine Gael are running two other candidates- sitting councillor Eugene Cassidy from Nobber and Seamus McGee from Crossakiel, a part-time farmer who also works in sales and was a Meath IFA chairman for five years.

Cassidy has held a seat on Meath County Council for the past 20 years and has a strong base around Nobber, Kilmainhamwood, Wilkinstown and Kilberry in particular and his work to bring the Boyne Valley to Lakelands greenway to completion can only boost his vote in these areas.

Sinn Féin won two seats in 2014 but only managed to hold on to one in the disastrous election of 2019 for the party when Johnny Guirke was elected in Kells. Michael Gallagher, who lost his seat, was later co-opted when Guirke was elected a TD. This time they are expecting to take two seats and aiming to take three. There is a good geographic spread of candidates with Michael Gallagher in Drumconrath, Oliver 'Figgy' Curran in Kells and Peter Caffrey in Oldcastle, who should do well in Guirke's stronghold in Oldcastle where he has a furniture business.

Two independants candidates are in the running. David Gilroy has a strong base in Athboy and gained over 1,100 votes in 2019. A councillor for 10 years, he is likely to hold on to his seat with only Mike Bray and Independent Ireland candidate Sean Mac an tSionnaigh to compete with locally for the Athboy vote. A young first-time candidate Cormac Corr from Kells who is a former Fianna Fáil activist is also running as an independent having left the party.

This is a second outing for Peter Devin of Aontú who ran in 2019 polling 572 first preferences. Devin is a secondary school teacher and part time farmer from Moynalty and will be hoping that his party' s efforts to build its profile over the past five years including the successful referendum campaign will translate into votes in the local elections.

In previous local elections in the Kells area, candidates have needed a big first preference vote to stay in the race and this time round is likely to be the same. Kells MD covers a largest geographical area of all six electoral areas and apart from the Kells town also takes in Oldcastle and Athboy and villages including Nobber, Drumconrath, Kilmainhamwood, Castletown, Moynalty and Carlanstown.

Housing is the probably biggest issue for voters in Kells, according to Mark Smith of the Kells Local Heroes Group. "There is housing coming on stream in Kells and it is of high quality but there will always be that catch up with public housing. There were plans for Carrick Street and Maudlin Street [for social housing] and I think that has been put on hold again. There are a couple of sites that are slow in being developed. You're not talking big numbers. The numbers you would need to pull back the housing in Kells wouldn't be like Navan or anything like that."

He said they are lucky in Kells that the community spirit and the great pride in the town has been restored over the past 10-15 and they work very closely with Meath County Council. "Within the next year or two, there is going to be a bit of a turnaround for Kells. You are going to have the Sawmills, there is the up and coming public realm plan, the upgrading of the lands out at Lloyd that will probably become a people's park, extra walkways are going to be developed and I can see that a lot of the work that was started in the last 10-15 will be coming to fruition. Kells- we are not in a bad way. Schools are good, sports facilities are good".

However one thing he said that is missing is a community centre. "We are probably the only town in the county that doesn't have a community or base."

Off street parking would be another issue and while transport links are generally good, Mark said that to get to surrounding towns like Athboy or Trim, you have to go through Navan and there are no links for Drogheda for the likes of hospital appointments.

Oldcastle generally elects a councillor and last time round it was Guirke who won the seat. When he first got into politics it arose from his campaign for better roads for north Meath and while there have been improvements, it is still an issue in the north of the county.

Like everywhere, housing is a big issue, both in terms of affordability and availability. Gerry McDermott, a local businessman who is also involved in the tidy towns group said rent increases make it very difficult for young people to rent and explained that availability of houses both to rent and buy is an issue.

"At the moment, if you were looking for a house to rent or buy around Oldcastle, there is very little available," he said.

For local businesses parking is a concern and Gerry said Oldcastle has no off street car park.

"The lack of a car park is having a huge impact on all the businesses Oldcastle. We really need to introduce two-hour parking but cant being it in until there is somewhere to park Every other town has a car park, Oldcastle hasn't it. Workers are parking all day. If you come in at 10am you would be lucky to get a paring space."

He also wants to see more investment in the footpaths in the town. "We are on the very peripheral of Meath County Council. We are the last outpost. There has been huge investment in Cavan but the foopaths here all need to be done. They were done in Athboy and Kells but the council has spent no money on footpaths or infrastructure here.

According to Gerry, the lack of a hotel and tourism accommodation is also an issue in Oldcastle with several properties no longer available as they accommodating Ukrainian refugees.