Sinn Féin's Réada Cronin promises to be formidable force for county 

SINN Fein’s Réada Cronin was thankful after she claimed the third seat in the Kildare North constituency.

She said: “I am really delighted. We came into this general election on the back of a poor local elections where we had really excellent candidates who were pipped to the post for the last seat in many areas in Kildare.”

Deputy Cronin shared a similar sentiment for the rest of her party across the board.

“We’ve topped the poll in a few areas. We’ve had a few losses as well, and my heart goes out to them. I know what it’s like to lose a seat in an election and its really, really hard. You feel you’ve let down the people you’re working with.”

Speaking of her party’s ambition, she said: “What we want to do, first of all, is talk to people on the left, left-wing independents. We’d be looking at the feasibility around forming the left-wing government, see if it’s possible ... Fianna Fail and Fine Gael don’t have a right to rule.

“The people who voted for Sinn Fein deserve to have a voice at the table. I’m delighted to be joined up with Shonagh Ní Raghallaigh. We will be a formidable force for republicans in Kildare. We’ll be on the side of ordinary working people and will try to undo the damage that’s been done.

“For the nearly 5,000 children homeless. We have to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. I want to thank the people who came out and who have said that’s not right and who have voted for Sinn Fein in this general election.”