Young gun aims to give politics ‘a good shake-up’

HE is president of the students’ union at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) – a young gun admired by his peers.

Gearóid Buckley is now aiming his sights at a seat on Cork County Council. But the 22-year-old may well discover – the hard way – that more than ambition and confidence are needed to give local politics a “good shake-up”.

Although he has all but been ruled out by pundits, Mr Buckley, running for Labour, remains “confident” of a seat and maintains the experience of representing 8,500 students is ample preparation for a job where he would be working on behalf of almost 22,000 in the Bandon electoral area. Indeed, it is perhaps more than many candidates offer in terms of hands-on experience representing people, but can someone just out of college give constituents the leadership they require in these tough times?