This article is from page 4 of the 2011-06-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
WHAT we have we hold – that was the message emanating from Shannon that held sway among delegates to last Thursday night’s Fine Gael selection convention in Bunratty to elect a successor to Senator Tony Mulcahy on Clare County Council.
Shannon town councillor Sean McLoughlin secured Senator Mulcahy’s county council seat on a 42-35 vote against Marinella Raftery from Newmarket-on-Fergus – a decision already endorsed by Fine Gael party headquarters that will pave the way for his co-option onto the council at next Monday’s monthly meeting of the local authority in Ennis.
“To keep this council seat in Shannon was important,” said Cllr McLoughlin told The Clare People after his selection convention victory in the Bunratty Manor Hotel. “It was important for me personally, but the entire branch of the Fine Gael branch in Shannon that I was a founder member of in 1994 were adamant that someone from Shannon should get Tony Mulcahy’s seat.
“Outside the Fine Gael Shannon branch, the feeling in the town was that it was Shannon people who elected Tony and that it was still a Shannon seat and that it should be kept within the town limits. That was the overwhelming opinion that I was getting.
“This is something I’ve been working towards for the last 15 years. I have an awful lot of work done for the Fine Gael party for the last 15 years – putting up posters, knocking at doors and dropping off literature. Whatever Fine Gael wanted, I did it. Church Gate collections, organising functions.
“As long as Tony Mulcahy was on the county council, I would never have stood against him. Our vote is very much entwined, but the understanding was always there that if Tony every got further in politics and moved on from Clare County Council that I would be the person to try to step into his shoes and keep the seat in Shannon,” added Cllr McLoughlin.
However, the former Mayor of Shannon has pledged to play his part in working towards securing three Fine Gael seats in the Shannon Electoral Area in the 2014 local elections.
“I have no doubt about it that there are three seats to be got in the Shannon Electoral Area for Fine Gael in the next county council election,” said Cllr McLoughlin, “and I think Marinella Raftery will be there in future.”