Sinn Féin to host convention again

 

The Sinn Féin party is to host a reconvened constituency convention in Cavan later this week to both select and launch their prospective candidates ahead of the upcoming General Election.

The convention this coming Thursday evening, January 16, in the Hotel Errigal in Cootehill, transpires on foot of an a apparent technicality within the party whereby Matt Carthy and Pauline Tully were only previously selected in the context of a potential bye-election.

Mr Carthy put his name forward at the Monaghan selection convention back in early 2018 hoping to win the Sinn Féin seat being vacated by Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who formally retired from politics with the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil.

Mr Ó Caoláin won the party’s first seat in the Dáil in Cavan-Monaghan in 1997, and held the role in each election since then. He will now serve as Director of Elections to both candidates once selected.

In May 2019 Mr Carthy, who was national organiser of the party’s youth wing as a teenager before being elected as a councillor for Carrickmacross aged 21, secured 98,732 votes and was reelected without reaching the quota as an MEP for the Midlands-North-West constituency.

Earlier today Mr Carthy confirmed he will again seek the Sinn Féin nomination to contest the upcoming General Election at Thursday evening's convention.

He paid tribute to the out-going Mr Ó Caoláin saying: “Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin has been an outstanding representative for Cavan Monaghan and a pivotal and important leader within Sinn Féin, especially since his election to the Dáil in 1997. In the first instance I want to ensure that his legacy of hard work and dedication to the people of this constituency is maintained following his planned retirement from elected office.”

He explained how previously he and Ms Tully had been selected as candidates, but that convention lapsed when Fianna Fáil “refused to force an election and we were instead subjected to two more years of government failures.”

He said: “Over the coming weeks I will be asking the people of Monaghan to allow me to continue the great work of Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and to build on his legacy.
“I want to be one of two Sinn Féin TDs, alongside Pauline Tully, representing the great communities of Cavan Monaghan and North Meath, and I will leave no stone unturned in that bid.”

Local school teacher Ms Tully was selected to stand at the Cavan constituency convention at the Hotel Kilmore in Cavan Town in June 2018.

The event was attended by Sinn Féin Party leader Mary Lou McDonald.

The Kilnaleck mum-of-two previously served as a member of Cavan County Council.

The party hope to build on the already healthy numbers obtained in 2011 and 2016 by then Cavan Sinn Féin candidate Kathryn Reilly.

However, Ms Tully was the direct of elections in Cavan at the last local elections where the Sinn Féin party were left shell-shocked with three sitting councillors losing their seats: Damien Brady and Daniel Downey in Cavan Belturbet; and Noel Connell in the Ballyjamesduff area.

Sitting councillor Paddy McDonald though took the final seat in the Bailieborough Cootehill area without reaching the quota, thanks to transfers from his running-mate Bridget Boyle, preventing a total wipe-out in the Breffni county.

In a statement to The Anglo-Celt, she took rounded on the confidence-and-supply agreement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, describing them as “two establishment parties” that have “presided over and enabled” the worst crises the country has seen in housing and health for a generation.

“Sinn Féin want to change that. I reject the idea that Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin can dictate that we or our voters are not good enough for government. In government, Sinn Féin would deliver the biggest council housing building programme in the history of the State, bring about real change in the health service, and give families and workers a break,” she said.