New Laois TD Willie Aird features on RTÉ on first day in Dáil

First time Laois TD Willie Aird marked his first day in the Dáil with an interview on RTÉ Radio with Rachel English on the News at One.

The former County Councillor for Portlaoise spoke about how proud he was to have been elected to the Dáil where his grandfather William represented Laois until illness cut his career and life short in the 1930s.

"I was first elected to the Portlaoise Town Commission, which was one rung down from a county councillor, in 1979 when I was 19. I was the youngest person ever elected in the country and I still might hold that record actually.

"It’s absolutely fantastic to be here today, this is stuff you dream of. I’m especially delighted for myself and my family and all the people that supported me.

"My grandfather would have walked up that road after he got off a bus having got the train to Dublin in 1927. He walked in through the gates of Leinster House. He lived where I live and had the same name as myself. He was taken out of the Dáíl in 1931 after he had collapsed and died a couple of hours afterwards in the hospital. He had a brain haemorrhage and left behind six children. My father had no interest in politics.

"It’s just absolutely fantastic and I’m absolutely delighted because my godmother my aunt and his daughter is 94. She’s living in the city of Galway and she’s alive and well and she’s listening in," he said.

He spoke about what he wants to achieve as a TD.

"My priorities as a TD representing Laois are that I have a lot of work to do for working families and a lot of work to do for people in housing. We’ve got to make it easier for people. The bottom line is we need to build more houses and make them affordable for people.

MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Willie Aird TD, his wife Anna Marie and and his nephew Martin Manion at the Dáil.

"That’s what I got from the people in my campaign and I also got a huge amount of people saying that they can’t get services for children with autism. They can’t get referrals, they can’t get orthodontists. There’s a whole remit out there. There’s been plenty of money pumped into it but there’s a problem getting speech therapists and all that, it’s a huge problem," he said.

Dep Aird also highlighted Laois issues.

"We have local issues within our own county. I have to deliver a new courthouse for Portlaoise, that will represent County Laois. I also have to ensure that we get sports facilities within Laois, we need a new sports facility. That’s another challenge of mine.

"We also have infrastructure issues. We have a huge amount of houses but we don’t have the infrastructure to go with them. There are delays for people in and around our capital town in the county. We have to make sure we’ll be able to do something about that going forward," he said.

The new Fine Gael TD said he also wants to help families in Laois who have lost access to a special drug because a child has reached the age of 18.

Listen to the interview HERE.