At 10am on Saturday morning I was delighted to meet with the Returning Officer and staff of South Dublin County Council to lodge my nomination papers. I have been officially nominated by Councillor Eamonn Walsh, who has been Labour's voice in our community for more than a quarter of a century - and a Councillor for 18 years. Eamonn, as you may know, is stepping down from the Council this June and is fully behind my campaign for election. It's a huge and genuine honour to have his nomination for election and I hope to do him proud in the fight ahead.
I was accompanied by Eamonn and my Campaign Manager, Paul Dillon and as well as meeting the friendly and welcoming staff, we also bumped into a number of candidates and agents including our old UCD colleague, Paul Murphy, who is working behind the scenes for Cllr Mick Murphy of the Socialist Party.
I met, for the first time, Arthur Doohan - the Green candidate in Tallaght Central - and Baby Pereppadam, an Independent candidate in Tallaght South, who had a huge entourage with him to register his papers.
Getting on the ballot was by no means easy, given the tough selection process for any significant political party, particularly for such a young candidate. But now that we're on it, we're pushing hard to have as many "1's" beside my name as possible.
For what it's worth, here's the pic that'll appear on the ballot.
