GE2024... 'If communities are well resourced, everything else falls into place.

"FrustRation rather than ambition" is what independent councillor Gillian Toole says prompted her to run for election in Meath East where she will be hoping to secure the county's first independent seat in Dáil Éireann.

A councillor for ten years, Toole says her decision to run was borne out of frustration at not being able to do more at council level, adding that a lot of the suggestions she put forward would require quite simple changes in legislation which they can't do.

"I think we are a small country and the country should be run like a home or a small business. And the most important asset is our people so we need to plan and try and ensure that we have stability and fairness and equality. This requires people of parties, and no parties, working together. You have a five year term to try to solve five serious problems that face the country.

"If we get these right, everybody gets a fair start: housing, healthcare, education, public transport and community safety.

"For me they are the five foundations. We are awash with data in this country, we have so much data, we should be able to plan ahead and work out when new schools are needed, that enough ground is bought for play areas. In health care, we know the population figures, we know the demographics for different types of diseases so we should be able to plan.

"We need to use all the information we are falling over and be strategic with it."

Toole recalls that she got involved in politics "by accident" when a sewerage pipe was being laid down the main street of Dunshaughlin in the nineties. Businesses got together to form a business association which later became a chamber of commerce. She was contacted by John Bruton's office to run in the local elections in 1999 and only missed out on a seat by 60-70 votes.

This awakened an interest in politics but it wasn't until 2014 that she ran again for Meath County Council, winning a seat for Fine Gael. She left the party in 2019 and ran as an independent that year, retaining her seat convincingly in June's elections with over 3,000 votes.

It was friends that first started putting the notion in Toole's head about running in the General Election pointing out that there is an extra seat for the taking.

"Friends probably did more homework than I did. Saying you should give it a shot, there's another seat there. I suppose frustration with the government parties as well. When I was a member, I was giving lots of suggestions. I was putting forward all the solutions but they weren't being listened to."

Toole is being backed by independent Senator Sharon Keogan and a number of other independent councillors who have been helping out with canvassing where they can.

"We have differences of opinions but we have similarities. Probably the unifying thing is community first, people first. If communities are well resourced, everything else falls into place.

"Bottom up has to be the approach rather than top down."

Meath East is a vast constituency with mix of urban and rural areas but Toole says the issues are the same.

"Housing, access to healthcare, supports for children who have extra needs in education, particularly primary assessment to determine what services should be given, immigration and public transport. There's the same five and that's across the board."

Toole has been very vocal about the need for more resources for children with additional needs and coming from a family of teachers, she says she is intrinsically drawn to education and particularly the special education side where she says there is an overlap of healthcare and education.

"We are supposedly a very wealthy country and if we can't look after the youngest and the oldest in our population, then I don't think we rate very highly on a social or a civil level."

Toole says she is being well received on the doorsteps but her worry is not getting to everybody in the short campaign and this is where her network of colleagues come in.

"I'm getting good vibes. I would temper it myself. I would say to people, it is great having independents because we have the freedom to be truly public representatives, to put the people first but we also need to work strategically as well. We can't be randomers shooting off in different directions. Its a five year term, there has to be specific outcomes that can be measured and can be delivered in a timely manner.

So why should people vote for Gillian Toole and what can she bring to the table if elected?

"I'm persistent. I'm independent so if something is for the good of the people in Meath East, I will work with whomever is required to get the results. I don't necessarily take no for an answer from senior management in the council or senior people in HSE. I will keep at something."

Toole is funding her campaign entirely herself and said this is a measure of her commitment. "At least I can say I tried. This is a method to try to get in with solutions and try to solve the five main problems we have. I have stuck my neck out. I'm giving it a go."