New Local candidates eye up county council seats

Less than 12 months out from Polling Day, the landscape for the Local Elections is beginning to take shape in County Cavan, with as many as a half a dozen new candidates already set to put their names on the ballot paper, The Anglo-Celt can reveal.

Seventeen of the current 18 sitting county councillors are expected to contest the election in their respective bids to retain their seats in the Local Elections due to take place sometime between June 6 and 9 to coincide with the European Parliament Elections 2024. At it stands Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have seven seats each on Cavan County Council; there are two independents; while Sinn Féin and Aontu each have a councillor.

Fine Gael’s Madeleine Argue has signalled her intention to step down in the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District area - meaning there will be at least one new face at local government next year.

“It’s time to call it a day,” she said when speaking to the Celt on Monday afternoon, though she would not be drawn on who might run in her place.

Within the wider Fine Gael party, one selection convention has taken place so far for the Ballyjamesduff Electoral Area. The public can expect to see posters with the faces of Cllrs Trevor Smith, T.P. O’Reilly and Winston Bennett next Spring.

The selection process for Fianna Fáil has commenced in the Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal District, the results of which are expected shortly.

Gráinne McPhillips from Ballinagh has once again been ratified as the Aontú candidate in the Ballyjamesduff area. She ran for the party, led by Peadar Tóibín, last time out but failed to secure a seat.

Other dates for conventions across all parties and districts have yet to confirmed. However, the political grape vine is already thriving ahead of the June elections, which are expected to bring some new faces to the Council Chamber.

Sinn Féin ambitions

Other names vying to make it onto the ballot paper include Stiofán Conaty from Ballyhaise, Marina McEntee from Kingscourt and Michael ‘Bricker’ Wall from Cavan, all hoping to run under the Sinn Féin banner. The party suffered a heavy defeat locally in the last Local Elections losing three seats (Damian Brady, Noel Connell and Daniel Downey) and leaving just Cllr Paddy McDonald the sole Sinn Féin candidate on Cavan County Council.

Stiofán Ó Connachtaigh (30) from Ballyhaise was nominated by the Comhairle Ceantair of Sinn Féin and the local Pat Rehill Cumann, of which he is chairperson.

“Hopefully if it comes through the convention that’ll be me standing,” he told the Celt this week.

“I think we’ve a strong ticket there in County Cavan, [with] good strong candidates across the board who I think want to stand up for people and want to actually make positive change in this country.

“Hopefully we can get as many of them elected as possible.”

Stiofán gained his interest in politics from his family, whom he describes as a “traditionally strong Republican family on both sides”.

“I always had an activism in me that, when I saw the way I wanted something to be, I felt that it was on my shoulder to bring about change.”

Stiofán said his “big thing” is community development, specifically within the Irish language community.

“There’s lots of work that needs to be done in terms of the promotion of the Irish language,” he said.

“That’d be my main thing,” he said.

A newly elected member of the Cavan Public Participation Network (PPN) for Housing, Social and Cultural issues, Stiofán hopes to “instil the mindset in the County Council and in the public services of intervention in the housing market” in order to create a “direct supply of housing to those who need it”.

He is now the Irish Language development officer at Muiceachán le Gaeilge, where he works to promote and support the Irish language community.

Michael ‘Bricker’ Wall (48) also hopes to put his name forward in the Sinn Féin Convention, having been nominated by the Cumann in Cavan.

“Based on what happens at convention, I’m hoping to go for election,” he said.

Originally from Cavan town, Michael works as a foster carer in Cavan, where he has worked for the “last twenty odd years” as well as being an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with Medicall and operates out of Cavan. He served in the Defence Forces from 1994 to 1999 and was also a caretaker in Cavan Institute for 16 years before becoming an EMT.

Michael suffered from a bad accident in 2018 when he had a Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in the snow.

“I wasn’t found until the next morning, I was nearly gone,” he said, adding that those in Cavan General Hospital saved his life.

“That’s why I changed careers,” he explained.

“I just feel what I’m after getting back in life, I’d like to help people myself that are in trouble or that are stuck,” he said.

He and his wife Miranda have fostered four children, three brothers from Nigeria and one girl, alongside rearing their own three children in their Castletara home, where he has been living for the past 20 years.

Michael wants to tackle the current housing crisis, supplying demand and implementing an eviction ban. He also said the health system needs “revamping”.

“We have to look at a respite system for kids as well, for parents and kids - it’s not adequate enough.

“I think the government itself are going to have to look at the foster care system,” he said, explaining that as a foster parent and having spoken with social workers who are “inundated” with work, there are not enough supports in place for “anything that goes wrong”.

“That’s a big issue,” he said.

“The Defence Forces are another big issue of mine as well,” he said, explaining that soldiers “are just not being looked after at the moment”.

“That’s one thing I’ll say about the council too, they need new blood in,” he said, adding the Cavan County Councils need “people who can see things from different angles”.

Marina McEntee (29) has lived in Kingscourt for all her life, bar a quick one-year gap when she went to live in Shercock. She worked at Manor Farm for six years and now works for Collagen Proteins in Nobber, County Meath.

Her interest in politics began when she was in secondary school however she revealed she “never really knew how to get into it.”

She joined Sinn Féin during the pandemic.

“I figured it was easy to sit at home giving out about things, I just thought why not get involved to help change things.

“There’s not too many women involved in politics either and you see plenty of the younger politicians coming up now.

“I’d like to see more involvement in that, so I thought why not be part of the change.”

Marina in particularly interested in creating “more creative spaces” for young people, adding that she wants to provide more opportunities for youth who “wouldn’t be sports inclined”.

“They find themselves at a loss for things to do,” she said.

She also has aspirations to tackle derelict buildings around the county, bringing them back into use “whether it be for housing or commercial space”.

“Especially in the middle of a housing crisis,” she said, adding that she is currently saving with her partner to put a deposit on a house.

“I’m in the same boat as a lot of people at the minute.”

Migrant platforms

Nigernian Irish woman Maryam Temile from Cavan (Ind) has also signalled her intention to run on a platform of migrant rights.

A lawyer by profession, Maryam came to Ireland to further her studies in 2004. She graduated from Trinity College graduated with a Master of Laws in 2011.

The mother of three lives in Cavan with her husband. She volunteers locally in initiatives aimed at enhancing migrant representation in Ireland.

She is chairperson of the Nigeria Association of Cavan, an executive board member of the Cavan Cross Cultural Community, board member of Teach Oscail Family Resource Centre and Gaelscoil Bhreifne. She represents women’s rights on a local level and is a qualified cultural champion advocate helping migrant families access services in Cavan. Maryam is also a Peace Ambassador with the Universal Peace Federation of Ireland.

“I’m going to put my name forward for Independent,” she said, explaining that she hopes this will be a “starting point” for her career in politics with further aspirations for a Dáil seat.

Maryam is focused on ensuring that Cavan Town and its environs will be “stronger together where there is youth development and integration initiatives in place”.

She hopes to build a “brighter and better future for the upcoming leaders of tomorrow”; while also “protecting the vulnerable” namely the elderly, non-English speakers and new immigrants, allowing them to “live a happy and fulfilled life”.

The Cootehill Concerned Community Group haven’t ruled out putting forward a candidate. A spokesperson told the Celt: “The community have called for new representation at both council and TD level at numerous of our community meetings and we are in talks with the community about it too.”

Other names on the ballot paper last time out, yet to declare their intentions are: Noel Connell and Geraldine Harten, both of whom ran for Sinn Féin in the Ballyjamesduff Municipal District; former Cllrs Francis McDermott and Gerry Murrary, who previously held seats for Fianna Fáil in the Bailieborough-Cootehill area; Bridget Boyle from Cootehill for Sinn Féin; John Hare and Shirley Hall for Fine Gael and P.J. Barry for Fianna Fáil; former Cllr Damien Brady for Sinn Féin in Cavan Belturbet; former Cllr

Daniel Downey in Cavan Belturbet; and Seán McKiernan Jnr in Cavan Belturbet, who previously served as a county councillor for Bailieborough-Cootehill.

Last time out, the Labour party ran two candidates in the county - Liam van der Spek in Cavan Belturbet and Mary Roche in Bailieborough-Cootehill, though the party has yet to confirm its candidates for the 2024 Local Elections. It fielded no candidates in 2019 but, given the increased focus on climate change, the Green Party is likely to put forward candidates next year.

Emmett Smith also ran for People Before Profit last time out and has not ruled himself out as a candidate in 2024.