General Election candidate has 'unfinished business' to do in Tipperary South

He wants to return to Dáil Eireann to represent the people of south Tipperary and deal with, among other issues such as housing and the cost of living. He is also keen to deal with ‘unfinished business’ in relation to the provision of a replacement for mental health beds following the closure of St Michael's psychiatric unit and the closure of St Brigid’s Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir.

CLOSURE
The closure of those two crucial facilities should never have happened said Seamus Healy who has worked ferociously to put in place replacements for both facilities.

“St Michael’s should never have been closed, it was a crazy decision at the time and left so many vulnerable people without a service. The service has to be restored. St Bridget’s, which had three of the most modern Hospice suites in the country was closed under the cover of Covid and it should never have happened. Again, that has to be reopened,” insisted Seamus Healy.

Those would be two of the local issues that he would diligently pursue if elected and among his priorities would be to continue agitating for houses to be built in every community in south Tipperary.

“Housing is the most pressing issue for people. It is the civil rights issue of our time.Back in 2002 the Bertie Ahearn government together with the PDs stopped local authorities from building council houses.
“I said at the time that it would end in tears and unfortunately, it was true. The current Government is in place since 2011 and unfortunately, it has gotten worse,” said Seamus Healy.
He kept his office open after his election defeat in 2020 and since then, he said the stream of people coming into him every day on housing issues is increasing all of the time.

HOUSING
“They are homeless, they are sleeping on couches, dealing with notices to quit, cannot pay the huge monthly rent being demanded from them, and then people are over the income threshold for local authority housing but their income is just not enough to allow them apply for a mortgage,” he said.

He feels the amalgamation of north and south Tipperary county councils has been a negative for Clonmel and all of the towns in south Tipperary.

Seamus said it was plain to see that Clonmel had fallen back as had Tipperary, Carrick and Cashel.
“Finances from south Tipperary ended up in north Tipperary. It was not evenly distributed. Income from parking in those towns does not remain within those towns. That money goes to the north of the county as well. The balance changed and it favours other towns which tend to be in the north of the county,” said Seamus Healy.

AMALGAMATION

He also feels that the amalgamation was detrimental to political entities that were not mainstream such as the South Tipperary and Workers and Unemployed Action Group he founded.

“This is what the big parties wanted. The amalgamation had the desired effect of suiting the big parties,” said Seamus Healy whose group now only has one elected representative, Cllr Pat English who is a member of Clonmel Borough Council.
At its height the group had five members elected to the 12 seats on Clonmel Corporation . It was set up prior to the election of Seamus Healy to Clonmel Corporation in 1985.

He was elected to the Tipperary County Council in 1991 and became Mayor of Clonmel in 1994.
He was first elected to the Dáil in the by-election held following the passing of Labour’s Michael Ferris in 2000. He was elected to the Dáil in 2002 but lost the seat five years later by just 59 votes.

Tipperary South General Election candidate is a seasoned advocate for the community

Seamus Healy in bid to win back Dáil seat

He bounced back and was elected to the Dáil again in 2011 and again in 2016 when it became the all Tipperary constituency.
The Sinn Féin wave blew him away in 2020 but having lost before and comeback he believes he can do the same again on this occasion.

“I am delighted that the vast majority of people who were involved with the group from the very start are still with me and we are all working very hard to get back the Dáil seat,” said Seamus Healy