An old head on young shoulders

Roisin O'Sullivan with Gerry Adams, Darren O'Keefe (Cork County Council candidate) and Fiona Kerins (Cork City candidate) launch a young person's registration drive in Cork a few weeks ago

Roisín O'Sullivan has an added bonus for her publicity campaign in these local elections. She has just turned 19 and is the youngest candidate in the party and one of the youngest candidates in the whole country.

"It's brilliant really," she told An Phoblacht on Tuesday. "It's a real advantage. People in the town relate to me. They want people to talk with them and not down to them. They see me as somebody who will go into the council with fresh ideas and shake things up a bit."

Roisín is running in the Passage West area in Cork. She comes from a strong republican family — her father ran in the county in 1991. She has just finished a year of pre-nursing and hopes to go to UCC in October to study psychiatric nursing.

"I think I have a future in politics ahead of me," she said, "but I want to get other qualifications as well. I won't let running so young change me!"