This article is from page 52 of the 2014-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 52 JPG
MICHAEL Hillery paid tribute to the support of family and friends after retaining his seat on Clare County Council.
The Fianna Fáil man was elected on the 11th county after securing a total vote of 1883.
“I’m absolutely delighted. It was a very hard campaign and at the end of the day it has worked out for me and I’m delighted that I have been elected,” said Hillery in the West County Hotel on Sunday night.
“It was very, very hotly contested at the doorsteps and I am delighted to have got through”, revealed a re- lieved Hillery.
The man from Spanish Point was quick to pay tribute to the support he received from his family though a long campaign.
“The main thing that got me over the line was the support I got from my family and also the support I got from all the canvassers, all the people that gave up their time freely to come out canvassing with me. I think that’s what really got me over the line; they gave me encouragement during the campaign to keep going when things weren’t going so well. People kept encouraging me to keep going, kept saying I’d make it and at the end of the day it worked out and I’m delighted with that”.
“I was very nervous all day because I didn’t know what way the situation was,” said Hillery of the see-saw battle for seats in West Clare.
He continued, “I know I started of with a quota of just over 1400 but I knew I had a battle on my hands. The people that were going to be eliminated early on were from the southern part of the constituency and I knew I would get very little transfers from those candidates. As it went along that’s what happened. I only went up after four or five eliminations. But when Gerard Kennedy was eliminated, it was from then on I started to move up and it looked like I was going to be elected and that’s the way it worked out”.