Local welcome for Bacik victory
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Deputy Alan Kelly, leader of the Labour Party, celebrating with Dublin Bay South by-election victor Ivana Bacik last Friday.Image 2 of 3
Dermot Ryan with Ivana Bacik on Friday last outside the RDS after she was declared the winner of the bye election.Image 3 of 3
Dermot Ryan with Ivana Bacik and her mother Rina holding a photo of Jerry Quinlan as they head out to vote in last week's by-election.Nenagh man Dermot Ryan was the campaign manager behind Labour candidate Ivana Bacik’s successful election in the Dublin Bay South by-election last week.
Mr Ryan, who previously managed the Labour leadership campaign of Aodhán Ó Riordáin, runs his own consultancy service and advises public sector and non-profit organisations. Speaking of his delight with Ms Bacik’s win, he outlined the newly-elected TD’s connections to Nenagh.
“My own mother Susan always said ‘all roads lead to Nenagh’ and Ivana has a number of ties to the town,” Mr Ryan explained. “Apart from myself and Alan Kelly, her stepfather was Jerry Quinlan. Jerry loved Ivana and we talked about him a lot in the last few weeks; he would have loved it all.
“Ivana and myself called to her Mum on polling day, to go to vote with her. As we were leaving the house there was a lovely photo of Jerry Quinlan on the mantlepiece. Ivana held it, we took a photo, and Rina asked me to send it to Jerry’s good friends Paudie and Tess O’Kennedy, to say we were getting Jerry’s approval to go out and vote Labour. He would have enjoyed that.
“He was a great Michael O’Kennedy and Fianna Fáil man back in the day but had huge respect for the importance of politics and was so supportive of Ivana’s career. I met Jerry and Ivana’s mother Rina in a restaurant owned by the Conroy brothers from Aglish when I lived in New York back in the early 00s. I had known of Ivana, and her mum suggested I contact Ivana when I was moved back to Ireland.
“I did, we met up for a coffee and hit it off straight away, and have been friends and Labour campaigners together since. In another small world coincidence, my now husband lived on the same street as Ivana, so we now live on the same street,” Mr Ryan added.
Congratulating Ms Bacik on her election, Labour leader Alan Kelly acknowledged the role played by the campaign manager. “The campaign has energised our party, brought us back together after the worst of Covid, gave us an opportunity to engage with the public, and put forward Labour Party solutions and values,” Deputy Kelly stated last Friday.
“Ivana’s election today will mean so much to our young activists, members and supporters who have stuck with us, and worked so hard for the Labour Party over the last decade, and it will inspire future campaigns for years to come.”