This article is from page 61 of the 2009-06-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 61 JPG
IT was a case of third time lucky for Cathy McCafferty. The Sinn Féin member finally achieved her dream as she claimed the seventh seat on Shannon Town Council. The Derry native failed in her attempt to get elected in 1999 and 2004, but her luck changed this time around.
McCafferty — who has lived in Shannon for the past 24 years — lost by just eight votes in 2004, but felt that her more energetic campaign this year was the telling factor in winning her seat. McCafferty picked up 244 first preferences and was elected in the fourth count, having received transfers which brought her to 393 votes.
“Tam absolutely over the moon. I cant believe I’ve done it at last,” she SrnLO
Her success is no surprise as she was expected to pick up the lion’s share of the Sinn Féin vote in Shan- non, after Mike McKee — an In- dependent candidate but a former member of Sinn Féin — decided not to seek re-election.
However, she dismissed suggestions that she benefited from Mr McKee’s decision. “There’s a big Sinn Fein vote in Shannon. I don’t think that interfered with it at all. I only lost by eight votes last time around and I put in a bigger campaign this time. I started last August,” she said.
Another new face on the council will be Fine Gael’s Mary Brennan, who took the fifth seat, having se- cured 252 first preferences. She was elected on the third count, with 384 votes — four above the surplus of 380 — in her first election.
Brennan, a native of Mayo, has lived in Shannon for more than two decades and works in the health cen- tre in the town.
The mother-of-three was shocked to learn that 252 people had voted ome
“T couldn’t even think of 54 who would vote for me. I didn’t under- Stand all the transfers,” said the new- comer to politics.
‘“T have had a ball, from the start to finish. I really didn’t think I had that much of a hope,” she said.
Her decision to run in the election came after her friend Councillor
Tony Mulcahy suggested it to her.
“Tony asked me at a wedding. I thought he was having me on. I’ve al- ways been interested 1n community. I felt a bit of new blood wouldn’t go astray,’ she said.
Although Labour increased their vote from 10 to 15 per cent, it wasn’t enough to gain a seat as their third
candidate Polish native Anna Ku- likowska did poorly, with just 37 first RACES Gee
Sitting councillor Tony McMahon won the fourth seat, while Greg Duff was also returned to the council, tak- ing the sixth seat.
“Labour would have expected to increase this time with the backlash there against Fianna Fail. We got a very good increase so we are quite happy,’ said McMahon.
‘We ran a third person for two rea- sons. The Labour party wanted to run a female candidate and to give the new Irish population the oppor- tunity to vote for a candidate,’ he added.
McMahon had, in the past, threat- ened to quit the Labour party, ex- pressing frustration with the lead- ership. However, he told