This article is from page 16 of the 2009-04-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
TOM McNamara is hoping to end a Kilmaley famine on Clare County Sees
The first candidate from the area in 30 years, Mr McNamara declared as a Fianna Fail candidate last week when he was put on the ticket by the party’s head office.
With the change in the electoral area boundaries coming into affect in June, Mr McNamara can but ben- efit from the addition of even more of Kilmaley into Ennis West.
The former Assistant Director of Nursing with Clare Mental Health Services is well known for his com-
munity involvement and work with eo OraVae
A life-long member of Fianna Fail, he comes from a long political pedi- eree. He is a nephew of Joe Ryan from Inagh who was a member of Clare County Council from 1944 to 1984 and is the first person from Kul- maley Parish to contest an election since Martin Cahill in 1979.
Married to Mary, with two teenage sons, he played a leading role in the development of community services for mental health in Clare and was involved in setting up ‘Meitheal’ Kilmaley Development Associa- tion in 1995. He was chairperson of Meitheal for seven years.
In recent years, he has coordinated the training of 35 parishioners in CPR and installed two defibrillators in the parish.
In the new four-seater area of Ennis West, he will be running on the same ticket as Fianna Fail candidates Cllr Peter Considine and Garett Greene.
With just four seats for the taking he will also have to see off strong can- didates such as former Fianna Fail councillor and Independent TD James Breen and Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).
Chamber of Commerce CEO Rita McInerney is also running in the area as an independent candidate as is Tony Mulqueen for Fine Gael and Sean Hayes for Sinn Féin.