A month ago Romanian woman Lumi Panaite Fahey went to Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan with a complaint about antisocial behaviour in the estate in Celbridge where she lives.
On Saturday she was elected as a Fine Gael councillor for the Celbridge local electoral area on the third count – the first councillor for the party in the town for 20 years.
It has been a rapid education in the reality of Irish local politics. A whirlwind canvass lasting just 3½ weeks saw her poll a respectable 1,221 votes, just 150 short of the quota. She was elected on the third count.
“I met him (Mr Durkan) on a Saturday. He asked me would I be interested in standing. By Monday I had my first meeting with HQ (Fine Gael headquarters),” she said.
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“I had no connection with politics in Ireland before that. I had no party affiliation at all. The party chose me, I didn’t choose the party, but their values are aligned with my beliefs. It is a progressive party.”
Ms Panaite Fahey (47) said she readily accepted the challenge because she has an 11-year-old son with special needs and has been campaigning for services for him. She came to Ireland in 1998, is an Irish citizen since 2000 and qualified as a solicitor in 2020.
Water shortages, housing, alleviating traffic jams and the absence of a swimming pool in the town are among the issues she hopes to raise at council level.
She believes her election shows Ireland is a tolerant place at odds with the recent anti-immigration rhetoric and protests.
“Ireland is a very welcoming country to foreign people. I qualified as a solicitor with a full-access scholarship from the Law Society. Ireland gives people a change,” she said.
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