WATCH: Offaly Green Party candidate says she has vision no one else running in county has

PIPPA Hackett, the Green Party candidate in Offaly, says she accepts the general election will be a challenge for her.

The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture was speaking after kicking off her campaign with a 5km run along the Grand Canal bank in Tullamore where the weekly parkrun has resumed.

Minister Hackett was then going to cycle to Shannon Harbour along the canal greenway.

“I believe I have a vision for Offaly that none of the other candidates have. I think we have to look forward, a lot of us tend to look back at the past. My vision is forward thinking and I think Offaly and the communities in Offaly have much to gain from Pippa Hackett representing them in the next Dail,” said the Geashill-based organic farmer and senator.

She said she was happy to have played a role in getting the Grand Canal Way parkrun back on after it had been suspended for a number of weeks before issues with Waterways Ireland, which controls the canal, were resolved.

“I was happy to play a role in getting it back on. We've been talking to Waterways Ireland and fixed up some of the issues there and I'm heading from here to Shannon Harbour on the greenway with a number of colleagues and we're going to stop in Rahan and Pullough. It's a lovely day to do it, it's a great way to see parts of Offaly that you might not normally see so I'm really looking forward to it.

“The greenway runs all the way from Edenderry to Shannon Harbour so you can cover over 60km along the canal in Offaly.

“It's been an important aspect of green policies. It's just one of many issues but it's just all about connecting up the county, the Midlands. A lot of people use the greenway. We're going to hire bikes from Ballycommon (Gerry at Dick's Bike Hire at Ballycommon Bake House) and they're brilliant, they're going to bring them here for us in Tullamore and we're going to cycle all the way to Shannon Harbour.”

READ: https://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/general-election/1651956/offaly-general-election-candidates-among-100-people-at-tullamore-parkrun.html

Minister Hackett, who first ran for the Dail in 2020 and finished sixth in the five-seat Laois-Offaly constituency, agreed that this election will be difficult for her party.

“I'm not deluding myself or anyone else, it is going to be a challenge. But I think everyone would see that the Greens would have had a significant impact in the outgoing Government. I think it's been, on the whole, largely good, I think it's been positive, I think it's with an eye on the future.

“We went in to Government in 2020 as part of a decade of change. We're half-way through that decade and there's much work done, more to do, to borrow another party's idiom. But I think that's very much where it is – the future for Offaly is a green future.

“People may have had thoughts and views about the Green Party but the vision has to be green and I think Pippa Hackett gets that, understands the challenges in the area and is willing to work, and listen to communities across Offaly.”