“Mayo has been good to FG time for FG to be good to Mayo” – Ring

Retiring Fine Gael TD Michael Ring said that it’s high time Fine Gael rewards success in Mayo as he believes that this county has been “very good to Fine Gael” and the leader Simon Harris should be looking at two Ministers in this county instead of giving Departments to candidates in small constituencies which have no hope of bringing another candidate home.

Fine Gael vote share in this county has been consistently above the national average, while half of the Fine Gael TDs that were selected have now been elected. Indeed Ring, who topped the poll in 2020 was the only Fine Gael candidate to do so nationally, he wasn’t to receive a ministerial post for that achivement.

Now, with his mentee Keogh whose election makes him the “happiest man in Ireland” Ring believes that this county needs to get a fair shake of the bag from Fine Gael HQ, which he says is two Ministers for the county.

The two candidates selected at the convention performed best; later additions such as Martina Jennings and, latterly, Ballina’s Mark Duffy both fell short.

While Ring is confident of Fine Gael picking up seats around the country, he wanted to thank the people of Mayo for placing their faith in Keogh, who he says will be her own person, own TD, and bring her own style. "There'll never be another Michael Ring," said the retiring Ring.

Ring was enthused by the youthful enthusiasm Keogh brought, stating that when he saw 30-year-olds showing up to meetings, he knew there was momentum building.

Of course, he had a special thanks to Westport voters who came out in their droves to support Keira Keogh, who is on course to claim the fourth seat in the county.