THE Green Party’s Susan Crawford has tendered her resignation from Clare County Council, effective from August 31.
Ms Crawford, who lives in Miltown, represented the Green Party in the Ennistymon Municipal District. She was co-opted onto the Council after Róisín Garvey, who won the seat in the 2019 local elections, became a senator.
However, she has now announced her decision to resign, less than a year on, and the Green Party will nominate another representative.
Efforts to contact Councillor Crawford this week proved unsuccessful.
Speaking about her departure, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council PJ Ryan said she will be a significant loss.
“The first thing I’d have to say is that I’m disappointed we are losing someone of the calibre of Dr Susan Crawford. When she became a member of Clare County Council she was someone who was very well thought of in her local community and being a professional person I felt she was an advantage to the Council.”
He said he hoped she would be replaced by another female, with only five women on the Council at the moment.
“The more women we have on the Council the better, and it’s one less now that she is gone. I’d be hoping she’d be replaced by another woman from the Green Party.”
Councillor Ryan also said that there needs to be more support for women in local politics, particularly given the level of underrepresentation.
Being involved in local politics is very demanding, he added.
“It’s a 24/7 job being a councillor at the moment, the workload is serious and since Covid there are a lot of people who need to be looked after and it’s constant.”
Her North Clare colleague, Fianna Fáil’s Shane Talty also said she will be greatly missed.
“Firstly I’m sure Susan didn’t take the decision lightly, she’d have given due consideration to what was right for herself and her family.
“Her resignation is a huge loss to all the communities of North Clare. She has worked extremely hard, I know that because we were in contact on various programmes.
“It’s very important that we have a diversity of representatives and certainly Susan’s life experiences and career skills very much came to bear in the areas she sought to focus on, such as the more vulnerable people in society. She certainly gave a voice to some quarters that maybe otherwise wouldn’t have got it. From that point of view she’s an immense loss.”
“If your professional and personal life doesn’t have enough scope, you’d have to make a decision.
“I’ve no doubt she didn’t take that decision lightly, knowing Susan she certainly has her own mind and puts a lot of thought into everything she says and does, so I’ve no doubt she’s given it a lot of consideration.”
At the July meeting of the County Council, Councillor Crawford had put forward a motion calling on the Council to improve its level of communication, which she was critical of.
““Communication is a two-way process and should involve shared understanding and timely feedback,” she said during the debate. “There should be respectful listening and hearing.”
A special meeting of Clare County Council was held on Wednesday, and while Councillor Crawford was not present, a number of the Councillors paid tribute to her, as did the Council’s Chief Executive Pat Dowling.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.