This article is from page 6 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
FINE Gael in Clare proposes to dou- ble its membership of the county’s two urban councils.
The party met on Friday night in Ennis and in Kilrush last night to nominate its candidates for the re- spective town councils in the up coming local election.
It has nominated four candidates for Ennis Town Council including the two outgoing councillors Mary Coote-Ryan and Johnny Flynn.
No stranger to local elections – Tony Mulqueen’s name will also be on the ballot paper, as will new kid on the block Rodger Fox.
Nominations for the selection proc- ess closed on September 19 at 6pm and on Friday night all four got the seal of approval at the convention meeting chaired by Limerick Coun- ty Councillor and former director of elections in Limerick East Leo Walsh.
Described as a woman of “integrity and honour” Mary Coote-Ryan was the first to be nominated by Michael
Carey and seconded by Suzanne Mangan.
In her acceptance speech the only woman to have served as mayor of Ennis maintained that her Fine Gael pedigree could be traced back to the blue shirts.
She told delegates that she was still passionate about politics and her door is always open to anyone who wishes to call.
The other three nominees were all part of the remaining proposing 1D KOLen Ice
Sitting councillor Johnny Flynn was proposed by Tony Mulqueen who described him as a family man with great knowledge on health is- sues. The former chief of the Limer- ick Fire Service had fire in his belly as he spoke of how he believes that public services should be audited externally and he had serious issues with how the town, county and coun- try has been run.
“T think the health services and (the political element of) the local authorities are not being managed properly,’ said Cllr Flynn.
His nomination was seconded by his other running mate Rodger Fox who he in turn nominated as a candi- date. Praising Mr Fox as an extraor- dinary administrator, Cllr Flynn said he also worked hard volunteering for different groups. Best known as the chairman of the Ennis Community Games last year, Rodger is a native of
Barrack Street Ennis and worked in two well known local businesses – Bredin’s and Shannahan’s. He was seconded by Earl Mulqueen, who explained that as Rodger had chil- dren in both primary and secondary school he was more than aware of the issue of class sizes and school ac- commodation in the town.
Accepting the nomination the new candidate said he was well aware of issues surrounding the elderly, edu- cation, water and the hospital.
Earl Mulqueen nominated his brother Tony as the fourth candidate. He told delegates that Tony lived in the town all his life and was aware of its difficulties.
Seconding the nomination Johnny Flynn described Tony as a man of “integrity and honour.” In accepting the nominee Tony outlined his ambi- tion for the town council.
‘“W hat we hope to achieve next year is to double the membership of the Fine Gael on Ennis Town Council.”
Fine Gael in Kilrush will be hop- ing to do the same as last night the party nominated outgoing councillor businesswoman Marian McMahon Jones and newcomer farmer Liam Williams.
All candidates will now have to be ratified by head office before going on the ballot paper on June next.