Two veteran Offaly councillors announce retirements from politics

The Offaly County Council chamber is set to lose the voices of two veteran councillors in 2019 after Fine Gael's Tommy McKeigue and Fianna Fail's Noel Bourke announced their retirements.

Noel Bourke made his position clear at an Edenderry Fianna Fail meeting this week. He said he would not be standing in the 2019 Local Elections after serving almost thirty years with the council. 

Tommy McKeigue indicated before the last Local Elections that this term would be his last, and in recent weeks, has committed to that stance by ruling himself out of the 2019 vote. 

Speaking on his decision, Edenderry's Cllr Noel Bourke said, "Having been a member of Offaly County Council since 1991, I thought it was time to step aside and allow other younger members, both male and female, of my party, to bring fresh thinking to the Council."

"I believe change is needed from time to time in any organisation. I enjoyed my time on the Council and will continue to work for my constituents to the best of my ability until the present Council comes to an end," Noel added.

"I got great satisfaction from assisting and advising people, especially those in greatest need. I often felt very frustrated at how slow the various Government Departments were and still are, in making funding available for essential local developments such as housing, roads, broadband, education, health and so on," Cllr Bourke reflected.

"I am very grateful to all of the people who assisted me politically over the years and those who voted for me in the various elections and to my wife and wider family who were always a source of good advice and support," Cllr Bourke added.

Cllr Tommy McKeigue first entered politics in 1985, joining the council six years later. "I enjoyed my time in it," Cllr McKeigue said, "it was about gathering new votes all the time. A lot of people who voted for me the first time would have passed on so you have to get out and meet new people and I'm grateful that the people of Tullamore continued to give me that support to represent them."

"Sometimes you had to make difficult decisions but ultimately they worked out and were always made with the betterment of the community in mind," he added.

McKeigue said Tullamore is a better and stronger town now than it was in 1985 with a huge jump in population and economic activity. "There were very few shops and no shopping centre back then, but there is an awful lot more business now, and it's an awful lot more diverse now. You have a lot of people from outside Ireland who have come to settle in Tullamore and done well in it," Cllr McKeigue said.

Cllr McKeigue also said that the restructuring of local government in 2014 dissolved a lot of the local authority's powers, saying, "it takes up a huge amount of time and yet an awful lot of our powers are gone."

"You're really having meetings about meetings with Irish Water taking over sewerage and so on, and housing bodies taking over the provision of housing to a certain extent. It is taking more time than ever but you're having less influence," McKeigue said.

"It was better before the 2014 changes as the council had more power to make decisions and provide direct government for the people we represent," McKeigue said as he once again thanked his voters and colleagues for their support.

The Council colleagues of both Tommy McKeigue and Noel Bourke have been paying tribute this week. McKeigue's party colleague in Fine Gael, John Clendennen said, "with both men serving on Offaly County Council for in excess of 30 years, I would like to acknowledge their service and commitment to Offaly County Council, and wish them well for the future."

Recognising his party colleague in Fianna Fail, Cllr Declan Harvey, paid tribute to Noel Bourke. "He was a big help to me with his advice and helped me out no end when I was elected the first time."

"The mark of the man was the fact that he got elected in 2014 even when he was very sick, so he's a bit of a legend over in Edenderry," Cllr Harvey added.

"He was a great councillor and at the council meetings, he was never afraid to speak his mind, and he represented the people of Edenderry with grace and dignity and will be missed," Declan concluded.

Speaking about his fellow Tullamore councillor, Declan described Tommy McKeigue as "a huge asset during his more than 30 years with Offaly County Council."

"He too gave me huge advice in the Tullamore area, along with my own Fianna Fail colleagues, but as a Fine Gael councillor, I thought Tommy was very helpful towards me and we became good friends."

"Tullamore is going to sadly miss him. He's been a huge asset right through from the time of the town councils to now, but knowing Tommy, he'll stay involved in the likes of the Tidy Towns and things like that," Cllr Harvey added.

Cllr Noel Cribbin also recognised the contributions of both men, and speaking about his fellow Edenderry man, Noel Bourke, he said, "Noel has surprised us all by his announcement to retire from politics after nearly 30 years."

He described Noel Bourke as "a real gentleman in all of his dealings with fellow councillors and public alike."

"I wish Noel and his wife Carmel good health and happiness after such wonderful service to many many clubs, committees and to the public on many issues over 30 years. His knowledge and experience will be missed in the chambers in both Edenderry and Tullamore," Cllr Cribbin concluded.

In the same electoral area, Cllr Martin O'Reilly also thanked Noel Bourke for his advice to him as an inexperienced councillor. "I'm sorry to hear that Noel will not be running again as he is a very good councillor and has been for a long time. Noel has never been selfish with advice and time and I found this most helpful to me as a new councillor. I want to wish Noel all the best going forward in his well-earned retirement from politics. It is well deserved indeed," Cllr O'Reilly stated.

Cllr Eamon Dooley said, "I want to wish both Noel and Tommy best wishes for the future and to say it was a pleasure to serve with them for the past twenty-five years."

"It was very easy to work with the two councillors as I always considered they had a common sense approach. Both men in my view, based their decision making on what was best, rather than what was necessarily popular.  I hope they have a long and healthy life after politics, they deserve it," Cllr Dooley added.

Both men will serve out the remainder of their terms with their respective municipal districts and Offaly County Council until the Local Elections in 2019.