Mangan 'up to the challenge' of retaining Labour seat
The former GAA star who has been selected to contest the next general election for Labour in Longford Westmeath says that he's confident of retaining the seat for the party when Deputy Willie Penrose retires at the end of the current Dáil.
The selection of Castletown-Geoghegan native Alan Mangan to replace Labour stalwart Mr Penrose on the party's election ticket came as a surprise to many outside the party.
Speaking at the well attended selection convention in the Mullingar Park Hotel last night where his candidacy was confirmed, the 2004 Leinster Senior Football Championship winner acknowledged that while he has “big shoes to fill”, he is looking forward to the challenge.
“I’m ready now to pull on the Labour jersey and ensure we hold the seat in the next election whenever it comes.
“...You all know me, and many have soldiered with me on the playing fields. When I take on a challenge, I have only one goal in mind, and that’s to win.
“Our county, and Longford face big challenges. Too often, we are the forgotten midlands, the places that you drive through on the way to somewhere else.
“...I look at our town, and I think what we could achieve if we got the investment, if we got the jobs, if we had good broadband, and the chance to promote our areas.
“If only the IDA took us seriously, if only a local business could get the support it needs to sell itself to the world.
“There are too many people without a home, too many people worried if they’ll have enough work, and enough left over to pay the bills.
“Too many people who need someone in Dublin to fight for them. I want to be their voice.”
Deputy Penrose, who is retiring from national politics after 26 years representing the people of Longford Westmeath in Leinster House, said that Mr Mangan will make a “brilliant TD”.
“I look forward to working with him so as to ensure that there will be a strong Labour voice representing Longford Westmeath in Dail Eireann. If and I have no doubt when he is elected, he will bring the same level of discipline, commitment and enthusiasm to his political activities as he exhibited on the playing fields for his clubs and for his county, Alan Mangan will make an outstanding candidate and after the next election, a brilliant TD for Longford Westmeath.”
Labour leader Brendan Howlin wished Mr Mangan well and said that he is a member of a new generation of party candidates in the next election.
He also paid tribute to his long time Dail colleague Mr Penrose, describing him as the “embodiment of integrity, of honour, of service and of patriotism”.