McGahon tipped to replace Fitzpatrick on Fine Gael election ticket

Cllr John McGahon

Local councillor John McGahon is reportedly being lined up to replace Peter Fitzpatrick on the local Fine Gael ticket for the next General Election.

Fitzpatrick announced yesterday that he would not be seeking a nomination from the party to run in the next election when their selection convention takes place on July 9^th.

That leaves a vacancy in the north of the county with today’s Irish Independent reporting that Cllr McGahon, a representative in Dundalk-Carlingford, could be set to fill the void.

The 24-year-old, from Seatown, received 7.77% of the first preference votes in his constituency in last year’s local elections, eventually taking the fourth of six seats behind Sinn Féin pair Edel Corrigan and Jim Loughran and newly appointed county council chairman, Peter Savage of Fianna Fáil.

A nephew of former Louth TD Brendan McGahon, who represented the county in the Dáíl from 1982 until 2002, John is vying for one of two possible positions.

Sitting TD Fergus O’Dowd has confirmed he will run for election once again while there is said to be disagreement in the party whether they should run two candidates or three, with Ardee-based councillor Dolores Minogue tipped to be in the running to satisfy gender quotas.

Sinn Féin motion to remove chairperson’s allowance in Dundalk is defeated

Cllr Edel Corrigan

The chair of the Dundalk Municipal District Committee will continue to receive an annual allowance of €12,000 after a vote to remove it was defeated last night.

The sum was approved following last year’s local elections but Sinn Féin councillor Edel Corrigan looked to overturn that. However, her motion was defeated by seven votes to six after much discussion and debate.

The five Sinn Féin members on the committee – Cllrs Corrigan, Jim Loughran, Jennifer Green, Kevin Meenan and Tomás Sharkey – all voted to scrap the allowance and were supported by independent councillor Maeve Yore.

However, the remaining members of the committee – Cllrs Mark Dearey, Conor Keelan, John McGahon, Peter Savage, Declan Breathnach, Marianne Butler and Maria Doyle – opted to keep the allowance by voting against Cllr Corrigan’s motion.

Cllr Corrigan told LMFM this morning that she felt it was the people’s money and she could see no justification for such an allowance. She vowed her party would continue to oppose the allowance.

Commenting on the matter to Talk of the Town, Cllr Maria Doyle said: “Sinn Féin hold several chairs on both Municipal District Committees and Councils throughout the country, for which they receive sizeable allowances, and which they have not sought to abolish or even reduce.

“My argument at last night’s meeting was that they do not have a coherent national policy in relation to this issue and are only seeking to reduce the allowances on the Councils and Committees on which they do not hold Chair positions. Sinn Féin will soon take up the Chair of Dublin City Council which has an allowance of €65K on top of the basic salary. I won’t hear them seeking to abolish that.

“They currently hold the Chair on Dublin South Council and the Sinn Féin Councillor Fintan Warfield received an additional €30K for holding that Chair.  Finally, Sinn Féin Councillor Imelda Munster is currently Chair of the Housing SPC of Louth County Council which pays her €6K per annum in additional to her salary. That committee are obliged to hold only 4 meetings per annum.”

Loughran calls on Bank of Ireland to find alternative site for Omeath ATM

Cllr Jim Loughran

Sinn Féin councillor Jim Loughran has calling on Bank of Ireland to find an alternative site for an ATM bank machine in Omeath.

The existing ATM in the village was removed a number of weeks ago and has led to what Cllr Corrigan has described as “serious implications for businesses, locals and visitors to the area.”

Now he has called on Bank of Ireland to replace it as soon as possible.

“While the post office offers a service it is not available at evening time, weekends and bank holidays.  I am contacting Bank of Ireland requesting that they seek an alternative site for an ATM to serve the growing population of Omeath and to facilitate visitors to the area as soon as possible.”

New look Louth County Council to meet for the first time this morning

The offices of Louth County Council

The first meeting of the new Louth County Council will take place later today.

This will be the first gathering of the local authority since the recent local elections and the abolition of the town and borough councils.

At the meeting the first chairperson of the new look council is expected to be decided.

The new council is made up of the following:

Dundalk South (7) – Tomás Sharkey (Sinn Féin), Declan Breathnach (Fianna Fáil), Maeve Anna Yore (Independent), Kevin Meenan (Sinn Féin), Jennifer Green (Sinn Féin), Maria Doyle (Fine Gael), Marianne Butler (Green Party).

Dundalk Carlingford (6) – Edel Corrigan (Sinn Féin), Peter Savage (Fianna Fáil), Jim Loughran (Sinn Féin), John McGahon (Fine Gael), Mark Dearey (Green Party), Conor Keelan (Fianna Fáil).

Ardee (6) – Pearse McGeough (Sinn Féin), Colm Markey (Fine Gael), Liam Reilly (Fianna Fáil), Tom Cunningham (Sinn Féin), Dolores Minogue (Fine Gael), Jim Tenanty (Independent).

Drogheda (10) – Imelda Munster (Sinn Féin), Paul Bell (Labour Party), Alan Cassidy (Sinn Féin), Tommy Byrne (Fianna Fáil), Kenneth Flood (Sinn Féin), Frank Godfrey (Independent), Kevin Callan (Fine Gael), Oliver Tully (Fine Gael), Richie Culhane (Fine Gael), Pio Martin Smith (Labour Party).

Tenanty claims final seat on Louth County Council

Jim Tenanty

Jim Tenanty held off the challenge of fellow independent Hugh Conlon to take the last seat on the new Louth County Council following yesterday evening’s recount at the Redeemer in Dundalk.

Just 23 votes had separated the pair in the Ardee electoral area on Sunday night, leading to Conlon calling for a recount.

However, it failed to change the outcome, with Tenanty holding on to take his seat on the new local authority.

That leaves things as follows:

The party breakdown reads as

• Sinn Féin – 10 seats
• Fine Gael – 7 seats
• Fianna Fáil – 5 seats
• Labour Party – 2 seats
• Green Party – 2 seats
• Independents – 3 seats

Meanwhile, the new council is made up of the following:

Dundalk South (7) – Tomás Sharkey (Sinn Féin), Declan Breathnach (Fianna Fáil), Maeve Anna Yore (Independent), Kevin Meenan (Sinn Féin), Jennifer Green (Sinn Féin), Maria Doyle (Fine Gael), Marianne Butler (Green Party).

Dundalk Carlingford (6) – Edel Corrigan (Sinn Féin), Peter Savage (Fianna Fáil), Jim Loughran (Sinn Féin), John McGahon (Fine Gael), Mark Dearey (Green Party), Conor Keelan (Fianna Fáil).

Ardee (6) – Pearse McGeough (Sinn Féin), Colm Markey (Fine Gael), Liam Reilly (Fianna Fáil), Tom Cunningham (Sinn Féin), Dolores Minogue (Fine Gael), Jim Tenanty (Independent).

Drogheda (10) – Imelda Munster (Sinn Féin), Paul Bell (Labour Party), Alan Cassidy (Sinn Féin), Tommy Byrne (Fianna Fáil), Kenneth Flood (Sinn Féin), Frank Godfrey (Independent), Kevin Callan (Fine Gael), Oliver Tully (Fine Gael), Richie Culhane (Fine Gael), Pio Martin Smith (Labour Party).

Drama at count centre as Keelan pips Quigley to final seat by just four votes

Some of the victorious Sinn Féin team at the count centre on Saturday with party leader and local TD Gerry Adams. From left: Edel Corrigan, Pearse McGeough, Gerry Adams, Imelda Munster, Tomás Sharkey, Jennifer Green, Tom Cunningham and Alan Cassidy

Conor Keelan won the final seat in Dundalk Carlingford by just four votes from JJ Quigley

There was drama at the local election count in the Redeemer last night after a recount was ordered to decide who took the last seat available in the Dundalk-Carlingford constituency.

In the end history repeated itself as Fianna Fáil’s Conor Keelan saw off competition from Sinn Féin’s JJ Quigley to take the final seat by just four votes – the same margin that independent councillor Alan Grehan pipped Fianna Fáil’s Donal Lynch by following a similar recount five years ago.

Initially there had been just two votes separating the pair before the recount but it failed to change the outcome.

The failure of Quigley to get elected was the one downside to what was an otherwise fantastic weekend for Sinn Féin, who saw 10 of their 11 candidates elected, with poll toppers in each of the four electoral areas.

As is always the case in elections, there were casualties with established councillors such as Eamonn O’Boyle, Jim Ryan, Jim Lennon, Finnan McCoy, Martin Murnaghan, Linus English, Michael O’Dowd, Sean Bellew and Oliver Morgan all losing seats.

For the first time there is the possibility also of a husband and wife team on the council with Sinn Féin’s Jennifer Green elected in Dundalk South, while her fiancé Alan Cassidy was elected in Drogheda.

Sinn Féin aside, the big winners included independent Maeve Anna Yore and Fine Gael’s John McGahon and Maria Doyle, who secured seats on their debut elections.

It was also a good weekend for the Green Party, with both Mark Dearey and Marianne Butler retaining their status.

The only remaining seat still to be decided is in Ardee, where a recount will take place this morning at 10am at the request of Hugh Conlon, who lost out on the final seat to fellow independent Jim Tenanty by just 23 votes.

The party breakdown look as follows:

• Sinn Féin – 10 seats
• Fine Gael – 7 seats
• Fianna Fáil – 5 seats
• Labour Party – 2 seats
• Green Party – 2 seats
• Independents – 3 seats

There will also be a record number of women representatives, with seven female councillors elected.

As things stand the new County Council will look as follows:

Dundalk South (7) – Tomás Sharkey (Sinn Féin), Declan Breathnach (Fianna Fáil), Maeve Anna Yore (Independent), Kevin Meenan (Sinn Féin), Jennifer Green (Sinn Féin), Maria Doyle (Fine Gael), Marianne Butler (Green Party).

Dundalk Carlingford (6) – Edel Corrigan (Sinn Féin), Peter Savage (Fianna Fáil), Jim Loughran (Sinn Féin), John McGahon (Fine Gael), Mark Dearey (Green Party), Conor Keelan (Fianna Fáil).

Ardee (6) – Pearse McGeough (Sinn Féin), Colm Markey (Fine Gael), Liam Reilly (Fianna Fáil), Tom Cunningham (Sinn Féin), Dolores Minogue (Fine Gael), Jim Tenanty/Hugh D Conlon (Independent).

Drogheda (10) – Imelda Munster (Sinn Féin), Paul Bell (Labour Party), Alan Cassidy (Sinn Féin), Tommy Byrne (Fianna Fáil), Kenneth Flood (Sinn Féin), Frank Godfrey (Independent), Kevin Callan (Fine Gael), Oliver Tully (Fine Gael), Richie Culhane (Fine Gael), Pio Martin Smith (Labour Party).

Full results for each electoral area are also available on the Louth County Council website – Dundalk Carlingford, Dundalk South, Ardee, Drogheda.

Sinn Féin puts forward its largest ever team for local elections

The Louth Sinn Féin team pictured at last night’s local election campaign launch in The Fairways Hotel. Back row from left: JJ Quigley, Cllr Pearse McGeough, Cllr Tomás Sharkey, Cllr Kevin Meenan, Tom Cunningham, Cllr Jim Loughran, Alan Cassidy, Kenneth Flood. Front row from left: Matt Carthy (EU candidate), Cllr Jennifer Green, Cllr Imelda Munster, Louth TD and party president Deputy Gerry Adams and Cllr Edel Corrigan

Sinn Féin is putting forward its largest ever team of local government candidates in Louth for this May’s elections.

The party launched its campaign at an event in The Fairways Hotel in Dundalk last night with president and local TD Gerry Adams addressing a packed meeting of candidates and party activists.

The event, which was attended by Sinn Féin’s EU candidate Matt Carthy, encouraged people to get behind the party’s 11 candidates who will stand for election on May 23rd.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Adams said the large number of candidates being put forward by Sinn Féin in Louth was a statement of intent as to the direction the party wanted to go in.

“Sinn Féin is going into to the Local and European elections in May as a party on the rise, not just in Louth but throughout this state. Since the 2011 General election Sinn Féin TDs and Senators have been holding the Fine Gael/Labour Government to account,” he said.

“They have been working hard to challenge and to change the toxic political culture which has led to the series of political scandals we have witnessed recently and to the bad political decisions which has seen ordinary citizens penalised while those at the top of society have been untouched by the consequences of the economic crisis.

“Sinn Féin is the only all-Ireland party. We will be fighting local government and European elections in the north on May 22^nd and local government and European elections in this state the following day.

“In the 2011 General Election, the best so far for Sinn Féin in this state, the party topped the poll in Louth with 15,072 votes.

“We have a dynamic republican team contesting the local elections in this county with Jim Loughran, Edel Corrigan and JJ Quigley in Dundalk-Carlingford, Jennifer Green, Kevin Meenan and Tomás Sharkey in Dundalk South, Pearse McGeough and Tom Cunningham in Mid-Loutd and Imelda Munster, Alan Cassidy and Kenneth Flood in Drogheda.”

Deputy Adams said that health and justice issues were two of the biggest problems facing the county at present.

“As we face into these elections, there are major issues facing people in Louth. We are dealing with an unacceptable depletion of services at the Louth Hospital. The current crisis at Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda is due is its under-resourcing resulting in an inability to cope with the volume of patients they are dealing with.

“Ambulance cover in Louth is totally inadequate and has led directly to fatalities.

“Garda cover throughout the county has been reduced. The Department of Justice is not resourcing or developing the partnerships between the Gardaí and the communities on the ground in the way that it should.

“Louth is also severely disadvantaged as a result of being a border county. There has been no government investment in jobs or capital spend in infrastructure. The failure so far to proceed with the Narrow Water Bridge project has been a huge blow. Sinn Féin will not let this issue fall by the wayside.

“The Narrow Water Bridge project is needed for Louth, for South Down and it is needed as part of our national infrastructure.

“We have seen no innovation or imaginative proposals from the Fine Gael/Labour government to deal with the specific issues faced by border counties.

“Sinn Féin has been actively pursuing the cross-border sharing of local services, north/south and the establishment of specific EU Units as a means of drawing down investment from Europe in a more strategic way.

“There is a housing crisis in Louth with 4,800 people on the waiting list in this county.

“Thousands of families throughout this county are suffering as a result of planning irregularities and unfinished estates, built with no corresponding amenities.

“Citizens in Louth deserve better representation. They need real republican representation and increasingly they are looking to Sinn Féin to provide that,” he said.

The full list of Sinn Féin candidates going forward for election is:

• Dundalk-Carlingford: Cllr Jim Loughran, Cllr Edel Corrigan, JJ Quigley
• Dundalk South: Cllr Jennifer Green, Cllr Kevin Meenan, Cllr Tomás Sharkey
• Mid-Louth: Cllr Pearse McGeough, Tom Cunningham
• Drogheda: Cllr Imelda Munster, Alan Cassidy, Kenneth Flood

Loughran calls on damage of Cooley Mountains by quad bikers to end

Cllr Jim Loughran

Sinn Féin councillor Jim Loughran has called on off road vehicles such as quad bikes and scramblers, to stop causing damage to the Cooley Mountains and worrying sheep in the process.

The Dundalk-Carlingford election candidate said: “The Cooley Mountains are beautiful at this time of year and we should respect this wonderful gift we have here in County Louth. There are a few people using the mountains as a scrambling track and it is churning up the soil and earth and destroying the area for those of us who appreciate it.

“We are coming into lambing season which can be a fragile time for farmers. When you think back to the weather we had this time last year, in some parts we had sheep buried in the snow and lambs lost. This year, the sheep on the Cooleys are facing new difficulties with careless and selfish people chasing them on bikes and quads.”

A farming representative said: “It is hard to settle sheep on spring pasture when they are being chased like this. Some of the pastures are churned up so badly that it’s visible in satellite photos and there are concerns that Single Farm Payments will be affected.”

However, this is a cross border problem. Similar damage had been done in the Ring of Gullion on the north side of the border. When Gardaí attempt to stop these activities, the groups of people just escape over the border leaving Gardaí frustrated.

Cllr Loughran welcomed the fact that a new alliance of farmers, walkers and conservationists have come together to combat the serious damage being done by scramblers and quads in the Cooley Mountains and the Ring of Gullion.

He said: “There will be a public meeting on Wednesday 9^th April in the Carrickdale Hotel, organised by this new alliance, to discuss the problem on both sides of the border and how we can move forward.”

 

Sinn Féin prepare for local election launch

Some of the Sinn Féin candidates who will be going forward for election on May 23rd

Sinn Féin will launch their local election campaign tomorrow night (Thursday) in the Fairways Hotel.

The event will be attended by party president and local TD Gerry Adams, as well as Carrickmacross man, Matt Carthy, who is the party’s European election candidate in the Midlands North-West constituency which Louth is a part of.

In total there will be 11 candidates running for Sinn Féin in the local election on May 23^rd.

Of the 11 candidates, there are new faces and old. There are 7 sitting councillors hoping to be returned, with one of them, Jennifer Green, running for the first time having been co-opted onto Dundalk Town Council. She will be running alongside Cllrs Tomás Sharkey and Kevin Meenan in Dundalk South.

There are also 4 new faces in Ardee, Dundalk and Drogheda. Tom Cunningham will be joining Pearse McGeough in Ardee.

Former Louth footballer JJ Quigley will be joining Cllrs Edel Corrigan and Jim Loughran in Dundalk/Carlingford while Drogheda boasts two new faces in the form of Kenneth Flood and Alan Cassidy who are hoping to join Cllr Imelda Munster on the Louth team.

The official candidate launch will start at 7.30pm and all interested parties are invited to attend.

Sinn Féin select JJ Quigley as third election candidate in Dundalk-Carlingford

Sinn Féin’s team in Dundalk-Carlingford for May’s local elections: JJ Quigley, Cllr Edel Corrigan and Cllr Jim Loughran

JJ Quigley signing his acceptance as a candidate at the Redeemer last night

Sinn Féin have announced a third candidate to run in the Dundalk-Carlingford area in May’s local elections.

The selection was held last night in the Redeemer in Dundalk, where Clan na Gael clubman JJ Quigley was put forward to join councillors Edel Corrigan and Jim Loughran on the party’s ticket.

JJ is well known in the area having played Gaelic football at all levels with both club and county. He is a firm believer that involvement in sport and a healthy lifestyle is essential for the development of young people. Through his community work he coaches football and promotes sport in general in primary schools in the area.

Always interested in politics and with a keen sense of republicanism, JJ joined Ógra Sinn Féin in his youth and went on to join his local Cumann, Halpenny, Worthington Watters and has been a committed and active member ever since.

On accepting the nomination, JJ thanked everyone for their support and said: “It is a personal honour, as a proud republican, to be selected to represent Sinn Féin along with Edel Corrigan and Jim Loughran.

“Now is the time to build, now is the time to expand. It is important that the good people of this community get behind this strong team so an even greater voice can be presented to the Louth County Council on their behalf,” he said.