Co Wicklow PPN and the Wicklow Older People’s Council invited communities to Meet the Candidate events which were  held online during the month of May.

There were over 55 candidates running in the Local Elections in Co Wicklow in June 2024.   These candidates were seeking positions that could make a real difference in our communities.

Conor Kirwan from Wicklow PPN said “Candidates could not possibly reach everyone by knocking on doors and we also understand that some people in our communities may not be comfortable in speaking to them face to face, particularly if they have health issues of language difficulties.  There are seventy-four candidates seeking election to the thirty-two seats available to them across the six Wicklow election areas and forty-eight of these are running for the first time.  With such strongly contested elections we felt it was important to provide an alternative opportunity for people to find out about those that might soon be making important decisions on their behalf.  Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts we were unable to contact some of the candidates and five of them declared after we’d run the webinar for their electoral area.  However, we are very grateful to the forty-six candidates who were able to attend the webinars and answer the questions submitted by Wicklow PPN and Wicklow Older People’s Council members”. 

Carina Holmes from the Older People’s Council said “We decided to record the webinars for our members that couldn’t attend on the night, and we are delighted to see that the recordings are getting lots of views.  We are encouraging groups and families to look at them together, discuss what they hear regarding what’s important to them and where their priorities lie.  We received some great feedback from a group of young people who did this.  They felt it was a great experience for their first time being able to vote.  People have also contacted us saying that they found the webinars to be interesting and helpful.  People have said “It was really useful & has definitely made me more aware of the interests, attitudes & abilities of the candidates” and “That session really helped me to decide who I’ll vote for in our local area”.  The candidates have also reported that they found the experience useful and appreciated the opportunity to hear the concerns of the community through their questions.  We wish all the candidates well”.

Wicklow PPN and Wicklow Older People’s Council would like to thank everyone who engaged with the webinars in any way and a special note of gratitude goes to Dr. Harriet Emerson and Sarah Wetherald who facilitated the meetings.