Áine misses out on securing a Dáil seat by just 132 votes
Áine Gladney-Knox (right) with Kathleen Funchion MEP, Jonathan O’Brien and David Aherne Photo: michaelorourkephotography.ie
IF A WEEK is a long time in politics, then a weekend of an election count must be interminable! Especially when the early tallies put your name in the top five candidates out of 20 contestants and it stays in the higher echelons for most of the count until the final nail-biting hours.
The tallies and the first counts had Áine Gladney Knox’s name at the top of the leader board throughout the weekend, but by Sunday night it began to look like she wouldn’t get enough transfers to get her over the line. There was a vacant Sinn Féin seat there for the taking, after incumbent TD Kathleen Funchion won a place in Brussels in the European elections during the summer.
In the hope of securing two seats in the Carlow/Kilkenny constituency, Sinn Féin ran two candidates in this general election, with Áine being in Co Carlow as she’s a native of Bagenalstown and is the daughter of cllr Andy Gladney. Her running mate was Natasha Newsome Drennan from Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny, to whom she lost the fifth seat by just 132 votes.
During the three weeks of the election campaign, Carlow Chamber of Commerce had urged the people of Co Carlow to vote within the county boundaries in a bid to secure as many seats as possible. While that strategy wasn’t welcomed by everyone, ultimately it succeeded because, for the first time in a decade, the county has two seats after Jennifer Murnane O’Connor and Catherine Callaghan were elected.
“The chamber was criticised for running that campaign, but if you look at it, the Kilkenny vote stays in Kilkenny, too,” said Áine.
“The dream was to see three TDs here in Co Carlow. We fell short of that, but I’m very happy for Natasha to take the Sinn Féin seat after Kathleen passed the baton on to us. We were very much the underdogs going into this, so I’m delighted for her.”
This was the first time that Áine has run in a general election, having also run and lost in the local elections alongside her father in the summer. Cllr Andy Gladney retained his seat but has stepped back in recent weeks due to ill health. Áine works as his assistant in the Bagenalstown Municipal District and intends to continue helping him in his constituency work.
“We’ll get over this weekend, regroup and refocus. I’ll help Andy in any way that I can. I’m a people person; I love working with the people. The people of Bagenalstown really backed me during the election so I’d be delighted to keep on working for them,” said Áine.
