Undertaker ready for life as a county councillor

TURLOUGHMORE’S Frank Kearney went on his first canvass in 1967. Nearly 47 years later the well-known undertaker knocked on doors asking for support for his own campaign.
Frank has fond memories of that first canvass with former Junior Minister John Donnellan and remembers many others, not all easy, in the decades that followed.
Helping people get elected has been something Frank has spent much of his life doing and following the retirement of veteran councillor Jarlath McDonagh, he felt it was time to mark out his own canvass map.
“At the beginning I did find it a bit uncomfortable, asking for votes for myself, but after a few days I settled down,” he remarked.
The highly populated Athenry-Oranmore district featured three extremely strong independent candidates in sitting councillor Jim Cuddy along with James Charity from Corrandulla and Kearney’s main threat, David Collins, who was battling him head on for votes in his own heartland of Turloughmore.
Frank admits that it was the elimination of two of his party colleagues, Josette Farrell and Liam Carroll, that made the difference to his final vote; without them he says David Collins would have passed him out.

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