This article is from page 20 of the 2012-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
CLARE TD Michael McNamara has been elected to Labour’s Executive Board, copperfastening his position within the party.
The East Clare man joined the party shortly before the 2011 General Election, and was still considered somewhat of a new kid on the block by some of the longer serving members. However, last week he was elected by the parliamentary party to the national board.
Deputy McNamara will be only one of two TDs to serve the party at this level but he will not be the only Clare man, as Seamus Ryan is also a member of the Executive Board.
“It’s always a great honour to be chosen by one’s peers to represent them, whether they be the citizens of Clare or one’s colleagues in the Parliamentary party. I was delighted to be proposed by Senator Ivana Bacik and seconded by Arthur Spring TD,” said Deputy McNamara.
He fought off competition from Dublin’s Kevin Humphreys TD for the position in an election among the parliamentary party members.
The Clare TD noted that the vote was taken on the day that a controversial report, which suggested that a high proportion of Irish people with young children would be better off on the dole than in employment, was being discussed.
“To me, this is the one of the major issues we have to resolve. Many of our voters who are low-paid workers are stretched to their limit and ques- tion why they are working. There are others, who I met canvassing for last year’s elections and the referendum, who are on the dole and want to work. There are a small few who are on the dole and working.”
He said he now looks forward to getting involved in the party’s policy sub committee.