McLoughlin selected for county council position

SEAN McLoughlin has been selected as Fine Gael’s successor to Tony Mulcahy on Clare County Council.
A successful candidate for Shannon Town Council at the last two local elections, Mr McLoughlin defeated Marinella Raftery at last Thursday’s selection convention in Bunratty.
There were 77 votes cast on the night but members of the party’s national executive carried out the count and did not reveal the breakdown of the votes.
Speaking to The Clare Champion this week, Councillor McLoughlin said that with a Shannon councillor having departed, he felt it was a good time to stand. “It’s something that I would have thought about over the years but when Tony was there I had no business going. When he moved on, some people would have said I was the natural successor but Fine Gael is good and fair and there was a contest,”
He said that he intends to keep his cab licence at Shannon Airport but will be mostly concentrating on county council work.
At the selection convention, Councillor McLoughlin outlined the work he has done for Fine Gael over the years and his vision for the future.
“I have a long and proud tradition of service to the Fine Gael party. I have served at every level in the organisation. I was one of the founding members of the Fine Gael branch in Shannon in 1994 and served in various officer positions in the branch. In 1996 I was elected chairperson of this district and in 2002 I was further honoured, becoming chairman of the constituency and served in that role until the local elections of 2004.
“In order to maximise Fine Gael’s representation on Shannon Town Council, I was approached to run for the party in 2004 and was successfully elected. I was first elected Mayor of Shannon in June 2007. I had a very short honeymoon in the job as the Aer Lingus Heathrow crisis broke out on the August Bank Holiday weekend. This was a crisis that I predicted would occur back in 2005, before the airline was privatised. My effort and energy ensured both a high local and national profile for the issue and thankfully that effort contributed to the restoration of the Heathrow service.
“In the 2009 town council election I was re-elected with an increased mandate. Due to five years’ hard work on Shannon Town Council by us and good vote management, we increased our representation to four when we elected two new excellent Fine Gael councillors,” he added.
Councillor McLoughlin said that the economy is the biggest issue for all politicians now. “Once again, our party has been called on to bring this country back from the brink. Unemployment is at an all-time high, our young people are emigrating from Shannon Airport in their hundreds, from our towns and farms and the families that are left are struggling to keep their heads above water.
“I realise that the role of a county councillor does not allow me to address all of these issues, however, as my record in the Aer Lingus crisis demonstrates, I will ensure that these concerns will be heard, when and where it matters.
“I was delighted to hear the news earlier this week that the DAA has approved the funding for the Lynxs Cargo project. I hope that this is just the beginning of economic recovery in this area. I want to see Shannon Airport further developed. I want to see the expansion of services from the airport to Europe, Asia and the United States.
“Tonight, we are sitting in one of Ireland’s most popular tourist attractions and County Clare has an abundance of top tourist sports. I believe that following the recent visits of Queen Elizabeth II and US President Barack Obama that the time is now right to develop our tourism potential in this county and this is an issue which will be top of my agenda,” he said.
He thanked his family for their support and said he wanted to ensure his young grandson has a future in Ireland. “My inspiration and motivation is guided by my grandson Matthew and the desire not to see him being forced to emigrate through Shannon Airport in the future.”
Councillor McLoughlin was positive about Fine Gael’s future. “I will continue to work tirelessly with Councillor John Crowe and my three colleagues on the town council to ensure that Fine Gael achieves an overall majority on Clare County Council and Shannon Town Council at the next elections,” he added.