Tag Archives: Roisin Garvey

ON Wednesday morning, Councillor Róisín Garvey was gearing up to promote the benefits of going into government to her party colleagues. “The last phase is the most important one. The members have to vote and in the Green Party, it requires two-thirds, so we won’t be counting our chickens,” she said. The fact that such a high threshold must be passed means that the formation of a new government involving the Greens is still quite uncertain. Councillor Garvey said she wants the party to go into government but doesn’t know how strong internal opposition may be. “They have been very vocal, the people against it, but how many of them there are, I don’t know. “The national media have given loads of coverage to the ones against it in our party but I can’t surmise from that how many are against it.” The Clare Greens held an online meeting on Tuesday evening, with four of the party’s TDs attending, along …

CLARE County Councillor Róisín Garvey was in Dublin last Thursday, as part of a Green party group working on the preparation of a programme for Government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The three-person Green team at the talks also included Deputies Malcolm Noonan and Marc Ó Cathasaigh. Fine Gael were represented by Simon Coveney, Michael Ring and Hildegard Naughton and Fianna Fáil’s team consisted of Dara Calleary and Anne Rabbitte. “Fianna Fáil were quite passive, I would say. Their document was quite light. There was very little content in it, whereas Fine Gael and the Greens had very substantial documents. It was only a two-hour meeting. I’d like to have seen another two-hour meeting but what happens is that it is done over emails,” she said. “While we were in the room, we got to dictate wording. for instance, 20% remote working. Fine Gael wanted it to be an ultimate target but I argued with Simon Coveney that it …

  AN emotional appeal has been made by a number of community leaders for those intending to travel to Clare holiday homes for Easter to cancel their plans. Despite the signing into law of stringent new Garda powers to enforce the Covid-19 lock-down, concerns remain that many have flocked to the West in recent days. The Director of Nursing at St Theresa’s Nursing Home in Kilrush told The Champion that the increase in visitors has been noticeable, and said the situation is a great risk to aging communities are already living in fear. “The risk they are bringing is not just to us in the Nursing Home and protection agencies but also to the many ageing communities in West Clare,” Yvonne Moroney said. “This is the same area they love to visit year after year, but it will not be the same if the infection was to catch on in our small communities. Many people are worried about what people …

POLITICALLY engaged and numerous throughout the county, the votes of farmers and their families play an important role in every election in Clare. The last year has seen widespread disillusionment in farming, memorably expressed by the beef protests. Speaking to farmers at Ennis Mart on Tuesday it was clear that the dissatisfaction has not abated and none of those who spoke to The Clare Champion were praising Fine Gael’s record on agriculture. Many said they will be voting for East Clare farmer Michael McNamara who was a prominent supporter of last year’s protests. Several others made it clear that they wouldn’t countenance giving any preference to the Green Party whose policies they feel are very clearly against farmers’ interests. One West Clare couple said that farmers are just about able to continue as it is. “People will survive, but that’s all they can do. There’s very little investment in farming other than with grant approval and things like that,” said …

THE absence of Dr Michael Harty from the race poses an interesting question for those trying to read the tea leaves ahead of Clare going to the polls. In 2016, Dr Harty took 8,629 first preferences, 15% of the overall vote, a fantastic performance for a first-time candidate after a relatively short campaign, and he won the second seat. From Kilmihil and standing on the No Doctor No Village platform, it might have been expected that he would take his support from West Clare but people from different parts of the county also got behind him. For instance, tallies show that he took 230 votes from the boxes at the Ennis Town Council offices, about as urban as Clare gets, and a place where doctors are very accessible to voters. He took 76 first preferences from boxes at Quin National School, while tallies at Toonagh National School show he took 95 first preferences, more than any other candidate. Just up …

NOELEEN Moran, who stood for Sinn Féin at the last general election, and who had been expected to do so again in 2020 has ruled herself out of the race. Ms Moran had actually been on the originally selected Sinn Féin ticket, but because so long had passed from the time of her nomination, it became invalid and another selection convention was required. That is about to take place but on Friday afternoon in an angry statement Ms Moran said she would not be in the race. “I will not be putting my name forward at the Sinn Féin selection convention for the forthcoming General Election. Sinn Féin has had since last August to select a candidate in Clare, yet they chose to leave it until this very late stage to do so. “I do not think that is an appropriate or fair way to treat someone who was willing to put their name forward and had been selected for …

WORK being carried out to develop a hydroelectric system at the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon will not interfere with the long-term welfare of the renowned cascades that front the hotel, according to a Clare Green Party member. Work is ongoing to complete the project, which was given planning permission by Clare County Council. “It looks terrible at the moment but the hotel depends on that scenic view more than any other business in the town and, long term, it will be fine. The hotel is one of the greenest in Ireland. They have bees, an orchard and they grow organic food and now they’ll have hydro-power. Then the hotel will be run on hydro-power completely and as long as the falls go back to looking the way they did before, I have no issue. One of the main stipulations of planning is that long term it will go back to looking the way it did before,” said Róisín Garvey of …

Inagh woman, Roisin Garvey has been selected by the Green Party in Clare to contest the upcoming General Election. She is a well known local activist and champion for community projects. Ms Garvey comes from a large and well regarded family of teachers and farmers. She is a single mother with one teenage son,Corrán, and works full time with schools throughout the county on An Taisce’s Green Schools Programme. She said, “It is a honour to have been selected by the Green Party for this election and I am extremely excited about the opportunity to put myself forward as a representative for the people of Clare. I plan to use my unique experience in the community and voluntary sector for the benefit of so many people in our county, and to bring a new vision for rural Ireland to our national parliament. “Clare has been at the sharp end of this Government’s cutbacks, and it is time for a new …