![Kevin Boxer Moran: “I am not worried about Sinn Féin . . . No political party, including Sinn Féin, wants to see [my] . . . name on a ballot paper.” Photograph: Tom Honan](https://www.irishtimes.com/resizer/v2/4Z55DAZ2FJMK447LIBRN7FPSLE.jpg?auth=c4088ff2c591036857d249469f9da495443ec588d2ccb05a9e7f992356dab294&smart=true&width=1024&height=576)
Former Independent Longford-Westmeath TD and minister of State, Kevin "Boxer" Moran is to seek a place on Westmeath County Council again and he may run again in the next general election.
Mr Moran, who served as minister of State for public works before he lost the Dáil seat he had held for four years, is set to replace his son, Jamie, who on Thursday resigned his council seat.
Questioned about Dáil ambitions, the 54-year-old Athlone-based taxi driver said his local politics return came after long talks with his wife, Michelle: “I am ruling nothing in and nothing out.
‘In the genes’
“[Politics] is in the genes, it’s in my veins and my wife just said to me: ‘You miss it, don’t you?’ And to be honest, I do,” he said, saying he would not fear any competition if he did run for the Dáil.
“I am not worried about Sinn Féin . . . no political party, including Sinn Féin, wants to see Kevin “Boxer” Moran’s name on a ballot paper,” he told The Irish Times.
His local authority co-option is not guaranteed, but a “gentleman’s agreement” that usually lets an outgoing councillor choose their own successor may continue .
"I feel Athlone, Moate and Kilbeggan have lost out over the last two years and no one has been shouting for them and I intend to be that voice," said the former minister.