by Liam Porter, Inishowen Independent
BUNCRANA Town Council’s largest party - Fianna Fail
- may be struggling to find candidates to contest
the local elections in five weeks time, it has
emerged.
While all of the opposition parties have had
candidates declared for several weeks now, Fianna
Fail has as yet to name their candidates for
Buncrana Town Council despite naming candidates in
the Inishowen electoral area and in other areas
including the Letterkenny Town council elections.
Rumours circulating locally have suggested that
sitting councillors Dermot McLaughlin who is
currently Mayor of Buncrana and Rose Cullen, will
not contest the election this time around, while
doubts have also emerged over whether long-serving
councillor Joe Doherty will contest the election.
Asked yesterday whether he would be running,
councillor Doherty replied that matters were still
being sorted out.
“The ball hasn’t been thrown in yet, when it is
we’ll let you know,” he said.
Meanwhile Buncrana Mayor Dermot McLaughlin also
responded to the local rumours by saying that there
had been no cumann meeting or convention and because
of that the candidates had not yet been announced.
However the Mayor did confirm that Rose Cullen had
already indicated to the party that she would not
contest the election and while he stopped short of
saying so, hinted that he might not run either.
“I have given a long service to Buncrana Town
Council and while I have made a decision regarding
the election until such time as a convention is held
it would be wrong to make any statements on the
matter,” he said.
The Mayor did say he would certainly fulfil his
obligations as Mayor of Buncrana until the end of
this term also suggested that the forthcoming
elections would provide a perfect opportunity for
young people to give something to their community.
“Politicians are getting a rough time right now but
I’ve always seen the Town Council first and foremost
as a community service and the elections will
provide young people with a great opportunity to
give something back to their community,” he said.
Meanwhile the Inishowen Independent has been
informed by a party source that they were having
some difficulty in securing a line up for the
elections in Buncrana.
However the source suggested that a number of
potential candidates were currently considering
their options and could be named very shortly.
“With only a few weeks to go until the election
decisions will have to be made very soon,” the
source concluded. |
