Election is bittersweet moment for Sinn Féin's Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh
Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh pumps her fist in jubilation after being elected on the final count in Kildare South Photo: Aisling Hyland
ONLY elected to the Council in June, Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (SF) ran a masterful campaign for a maiden victory in her first general election, coming second behind Minister Martin Heydon.
Knowing she would have to take a leave of absence form her teaching job to take up her seat, the Kildare Nationalist asked her to comment.
“It is a bit bittersweet for me, because I love my job and spreading Gaelige, but I will continue to work for the Irish language both in normal life and in the Dáil,” she said.
A mother of young children, will she use the fabled creche in the Dáil?
“We co-parent very well so I don’t think so,” she said. “But we want to make politics more family friendly, and to make it easier to get more women in politics.”
“I will always be a voice for the oppressed, and will work towards the Occupied Territories Bill, and to pressure for sanctions on Israel, and to get the American army out of our airspace,” she said, before finishing le do cúpla focail.
“Tá me ag súil go mór le bheith ag obair ar son na Gaelige, ar son na dreama atám faoi chois agus faoi leatroi, bíodh said in Eirinn no thar lear,” a dúirt lei.
“Ba mhaith liom buíochas a gabhaid le gach duine a thug vóta dom”.
