Yes, it is nearly that time again when election conventions are been held and candidates selected.
Only moderate boundary changes recently in laois but significant on that affects portlaoise. They will get an extra county councillor, from 6 to 7.

Can Sinn Fein take this extra seat and bring their total in this electoral area to two?
Will Labour run a credibal candidate and take it or will it go to FF of FG as the main parties there?
I think there is all to play for in portlaoise and Huge changes could be seen on town and county council if the right campaign is fought by those willing to think outside the box.

The Emo electoral area might prove to be the most interesting battleground this time around. Can the status quo of the established parties be broken, with the new population growth? Historical voying patterns will flow away in the barrow if the newcomers to Port and the surrounding areas come out to vote and get registered!

Any thoughts?

Agreed re Jim O'Brien - Labour have no base in Laois (though they've had some success in Offaly) and that seems unlikely to change.

Michael Moloney lives in Emo so it might seem more likely than Portlaoise though he's gained considerable profile in the council this term. Politically he's an aquired taste though and in Portlaoise he wouldn't have the family connections that might have endeared him to loyal Mountmellick voters who have confidence in the Moloney name, regardless of who bears it.

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I'm not a labour voter but I think you're being very unfair to both Larry K and Jim.

Larry is not 'jumping ship' as you put it; he never wanted the seat and never did anything with it. I imagine he'll be delighted to have the filial albatross off his neck and is probably feeling the relief already. With the best will in the world, he's an ineffectual councillor because his heart just isn't in it.

Jim may lack working class credentials but there are those who would argue that labour in general has departed significantly from its working class roots in all but name and rhetoric. It's disingenuous to blame him for Larry's decision as you have done in your last paragraph. Jim has a very good profile, is vocal and is very active in the community - something which might garner him the kind of votes a labour tag wouldn't.

Will the greens put forward someone? I doubt it. LOG are an enthusiastic but very small group and would have to think very carefully about who among them might have vote pulling power. That said, if they do put someone forward, it will be in Emo, where the majority of the members seem to be congregated, with only a couple in the other areas. And where there might be a seat for the taking anyway. Maire McKay from Tullamore ran in the general election last year and got the predicted poor show but there was no one for the Laois side of the constituency.

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Laois eh? Let's see, a few corrupt gombeen FFers and a few gombeen corrupt FGers. Why even bother having these elections?

FF took a hit in Laois in 2004, so difficult to see if they're going to lose out further this time or to see where FG and SF could make gains. I know Labour have selected a candidate in Borris in Ossory - Laurence Kavanagh, who was co-opted to replace his father, the late Larry Kavanagh, isn't going to run and a party member from Rathdowney (whose name I can't think of at the moment) will run instead. My guess is that, with Borris losing a seat in the boundary redrawals, Labour will lose out this time around. Jim O'Brien, who had a decent-'ish' election (i.e. his campaign was good, though he didn't do well votes-wise, although he at least got over 1,000 votes, unlike his Offaly running mate) in GE2007, is likely to run, though his political base would be in the Mountmellick area, and there's little scope for gains there given FF's political dominance there.
Labour are planning to contest all the electoral area in Laois-Offaly, as this Laois Nationalist article outlines and O'Brien seems to be a good addition for the party, but hard to see how many seats they can win: http://archives.tcm.ie/laoisnational...story28060.asp

Jim O'Brien, from what I gather, will be running in Mountmellick. Given the political history of this area, winning a seat would seem to be a big ask, but then again there has been a big influx of population into Mountmellick Town over the last few years and if he can harness some of that vote, added to a vote from his local base in Rosenalis, then he could yet figure in the shake up. FF will be expecting to win their usual 3, FG will be pushing to win back a second seat, but who knows?

Michael Moloney posts here, so maybe he might defend himself on those issues that you raise.

Any ideas on who Sinn Féin might run as a viable second candidate for SF? The protest outside John Moloney's office yesterday didn't, according to my reseach, even reach damp squib status - it was a washout and was organised by someone called John Killrevey (?) who claims to be an activist with the party for the last year. I wasn't there but those I know who passed by say that neither was anyone else...

The Greens have never put up a challenge in Laois and I don't think this is their year either. Laois Offaly Greens have a very small membership, despite Christopher Fettes being in the area.

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There were a few new shinners knocking around at the time of the Lisbon treaty, but in fairness, not very many and those I saw or spoke to were quite young. Brian is on his honeymoon at the moment and possibly might have managed a better turn-out at the protest yesterday but John Moloney is an immensely popular and well-liked man in the town (last man to let you down, as they say. Ahem) and without major organisation it's hard to see how many would turn out against him, no matter what colour they are.

Lots of interesting politics on Midlands 103 in the last few days, with those shenanigans going on in Mullingar Town Council. And Laois's Mary Sweeney calling JPCs 'quangos' at the last council meeting having done no research on the topic. Hugely ill-informed reaction from her, I thought and defending her stance on the radio was ill-judged. Judging by the radio and newspaper coverage of the last council meeting, the gloves are well and truly off and the electioneering has well and truly started.

Any word on whether Rosemary Whelan will run for FG? She's young and very able and her record on Mountmellick Town Council would make her an obvious choice.

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It was not my intention to counter ‘Hill walker’s’ nasty untruths but as ‘Kate P’ puts the matter directly to me let me direct you to the facts

On the Laois Council web site Special Meeting of LCC of January 5th 2007 - DMLAP/17, DMLAP/20, DMLAP/24, and DMLAP /42, all dealing with the issue Hill Walker accuses me of backing, you will read that I was the Councillor who proposed that the Council reject the rezoning of the lands to industrial.

If one wishes to get the media reports of that meeting , they can be found on the Laois-Nationalist and Leinster Express of that week.

After that defeat, as it was a proposal from The County Manager the legislation provides for a second reading and this came before the Council on April 30th 2008.

Item ALTMM/01 & ALTMM/07 dealt with the rezoning issue and the developers with the help of Management won the day. You will note from the minutes of that meeting that while I stuck to my position the ruling group rowed in behind FF and the vote to rezone was won by 22 to 1 ( I the only Councillor to stay with my previous position).

Again, this can be verified by visiting the Laois Council and local papers websites.

Finally, after the developer submitted for planning ( 6 separate applications covering different aspects of the development) when the first was had to be rejected by Laois C.C., because of objections from the NRA, the Council used the regulations to postpone the decisions on the outstanding Planning Applications and at the same time went through the procedure of extending the speed limits out past the proposed development so that the NRA objections could be neutered.

On this point I objected to what was afoot and got the proposed amendment to the Speed limit adjourned for one month, again however Management and the Developer
Had its way.

Fianna Fail were for this development from the start but it was the sheer level of hypocrisy shown by Sinn Fein and Fine Gael in its ‘U’ turn that was breath taking and allowed the rezoning to succeed.

So Kate P while I accept I am an acquired taste (and you are spot on) however it is difficult to take a web site seriously when low life’s like ‘Hill walker’ use it to undermine one’s proven position for whatever reason.

Michael Moloney MCC (I) Laois County Council

Hill walker was neither bouncing an idea or expressing an opinion on my stance on the industrial zoning. He posted total untruths and stated the exact opposite to the facts of the matter.

To quote
Michael Moloney MCC (I)

The record will show that I singularly fought against this development and insisted that
the town had serious traffic and sewage issues and other factors that made the development totally at odds with the orderly development of the town.

These are the facts, the post by Hill Walker was untruths and trying to hide behind the idea that he was bouncing ideas or was expressing an opinion is fairly pathetic.

What would one describe a person that posts untruths, surely, one who misleads the general public with lies demands to be referred to as a low life.