Carlow and Kilkenny will miss a genuine and trustworthy TD when John Paul Phelan retires says his constituency colleague Kathleen Funchion

Carlow and Kilkenny will miss a genuine and trustworthy TD when John Paul Phelan retires.

That’s according to constituency colleague and political rival Kathleen Funchion.

The local Sinn Féin representative says the Fine Gael TD who’s announced he won’t run in the next election was a pleasure to work with.

Deputy Funchion believes Fine Gael will hold it’s local seat even without John Paul on the ticket and even if the Carlow Kilkenny constituency is split into two three-seaters.

She also told our Sue Nunn that she would have preferred if the government had decided to legislate for six seat constituencies because they would benefit smaller parties more than having more three-seaters.

Hear the conversation on The Way It Is in full here: