Roche bids to keep politics in the family

POLITICS is never off the agenda in the Roche home. It’s an unavoidable subject, day or night.

With the local elections just days away, Eleanor Roche is bidding for the County Council seat her husband TD Dick Roche had to vacate because of the dual mandate ruling and there's time for little else.

"I'm running for Fianna Fáil for both Wicklow County Council and Greystones Town Council. The campaign is going quite well. People have been very courteous and the welcome on the doorstep has been great.

"I've been campaigning all of my life. It's the first time I've sought election. I was selected by Fianna Fáil to fill Dick's seat. I also decided to go forward for the town council.

"My own family were always involved in politics so I'm no stranger to campaigning. I've always lived in a political household so I've had politics for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There's no time to switch off during election time," Mrs Roche said.

The mother of four, two of whom are grown up and two others who are at home and going to college, says the issues on the doorstep are typically dominated by services for children.

"The people want more playgrounds, more skate parks and facilities for their children. We're lucky in Greystones in that we are getting a new swimming pool. Bray is also getting one. Traffic is a big problem and people are very aware of the danger on our roads. Most of our canvassing is at evening time as places like Greystones are very much dormitory towns, with people spending a lot of time travelling to and from work in Dublin."

Despite claims that the electorate is fed up with Fianna Fáil, Mrs Roche says she's heard no complaints.

"Certainly Fianna Fáil have never been arrogant. Anyone who accuses the party of being arrogant is only transposing their own arrogance on us," she insisted.