A Monaghan councillor said she the "bread-and-butter" issues for people of this area are roads, housing and access to GP care. Fianna Fáil's Aoife McCooey said she is not on the campaign trail just yet but rather has been asking local people what issues they want addressed.
Earlier, she told the Joe Finnegan Show that immigration has not been the main concern of her constituents. Monaghan does not have "huge issues with migration as seen in other parts of the country," the councillor said.
However, she said if the issues important to Monaghan people like housing and GP access problems persist then, people who usually take the "middle ground" on the immigration issue, are more likely to look to blame the "influx of people" here.
The Monaghan councillor placed responsibility with the government to ensure that Irish people's basic needs are met, which would quell people's fears and the anti-immigration rhetoric:
"That weakness and the ability to implant fear is as a result of the dissatisfaction levels of people," Cllr McCooey told Shannonside / Northern Sound, "If people feel their basic needs aren't being met and feel that migrants are coming in and receiving more than they are well, then that's where that dissatisfaction comes from and I think the onus is on the Government to ensure that Irish people feel they are getting their needs met; that they've access to housing, GP care, all those basic things."
