Sinn Féin selects county council candidates
At a packed selection conference held in Buncrana on Sunday night, Sinn Féin selected their candidates for the local elections next May.
The party selected councillors Jack Murray and Ciaran McLaughlin along with Carndonagh school principal and former county councillor Albert Doherty to contest the Inishowen Electoral Area election for the party. There will be nine seats to be filled, up from the current seven.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the Sinn Féin candidate in the European Parliament elections, Cllr Matt Carthy from Monaghan both addressed the convention.
Speaking afterwards, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn said: “I am delighted that Inishowen Sinn Féin have been able to select such a strong panel of candidates and we believe that we can win three seats on Donegal County Council from the peninsula next May.
“In the 2011 General Election, our party took almost 30% of the vote in Inishowen and Martin McGuinness took over 30% of the vote in the Presidential election last year so we know that we have the potential with a strong campaign to win three seats.
“The packed turnout at our convention today clearly demonstrates the determination of our party members and supporters to give a real alternative to the failed austerity policies of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour in Inishowen.
“Those failed policies have resulted in the doubling of unemployment and mass emigration from our communities. They have resulted in our families paying more taxes for less public services.”
He continued: “Sinn Féin have demonstrated that there is a fairer way. That we can grow the economy and take the tax burden of ordinary families if we choose to and that this Government has chosen not to.
“The people of Inishowen deserve better. The election of a strong Sinn Féin team of councillors next May will send a clear message that the days of neglect have to end.”
