THE result of the general election means that two vacancies have to be filled on Clare County Council. Joe Cooney (FG) and Donna McGettigan (SF) have been elected TDs and the abolition of the dual mandate a number of years ago means that they have to vacate their county council seats.
At times if a person has to leave a council seat for other reasons than election, there would be less urgency about replacing them, but following the general election parties must fill seats by December 31 or there won’t be an option to vote in the upcoming elections for the Seanad.
Fine Gael are moving fast and on Wednesday Mr Cooney said that he expects that the party will have decided on its next East Clare representative by the end of the weekend after next.
“There are nomination papers going out to branches, they are being sent out this week. We don’t have a date finalised for a convention, but more than likely it will be Sunday week. A number of names are being discussed as possible replacements, but with nominations not even open yet it is uncertain what will happen,” he said.
On the Sinn Féin side, party official Finbarr MacGabhann said on Monday that the party would look at the situation in the coming days.
“We will have a meeting and discuss all that, there are decisions to be made and they will be made in the coming days,” he said.
Would it need to be someone from the town of Shannon, which has gained a TD, but lost one of its two councillors?
“It’s all up for discussion. It will be someone from the Municipal District so we will have to have a chat and see what they think,” said Mr MacGabhann.
James Ryan stood for Sinn Féin in the Shannon Municipal District in this year’s local elections alongside Ms McGettigan. Speaking to The Champion this week he said he hadn’t really considered looking for the seat now.
“To be honest with you it hasn’t even been discussed yet. It goes to convention, but there has been no talk of it at all,” he said.
“It was a fantastic result and we worked very hard for it. We didn’t have a fantastic local elections, but on the doors in the last few weeks it did feel a lot better. The reception on the doors was a lot better. Donna was a good candidate, people liked her at the doors, she is a nice person and that helps at the doors.”
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.