A LARGE number of apartment dwellers in Letterkenny are not getting a chance to grill their local election candidates due to difficulties canvassing the complexes, according to election candidate Christy Galligan.
Gallligan said: “I’m encountering many difficulties trying to canvass people in apartments and getting to speak to them face-to-face. This is far from ideal, and is denying people who live in apartments a chance to engage with the campaign.
“I’ve been unable to canvass apartments on the Lower Main Street, the Port Road, High Road, Neil T. Blaney Road and a number of other blocks in the town.
“I understand fully if people don’t want to engage with candidates, but there are always those who do, and who like to get a chance to quiz them on the doorstep.
“Buzzing an intercom in the hope that an apartment-dweller will answer and come down a few flights of stairs to talk to you is total pot-luck. I think we need a more innovative way of facilitating residents if they wish to engage a candidate, and to allow canvassers make their case to the electorate.
“I think local residents’ groups in the town need to find a solution to the problem, either by organising a local meeting at which candidates could attend, either within a complex or at a nearby location.
“Many people in these apartments might be of the negative equity generation and dealing with personal debt, so it is important that we get to engage with them, find out their issues, and discuss how it is that local public representatives can help them. People who live in apartments have just as much of a right to have a say in their local democracy and meet candidates as people in housing estates.”
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