Fine gael approach to mccartin ahead of general election
Fine Gael councillor John McCartin and chairman of the Quinn Business Retention Group (QBRC) has exclusively confirmed to The Anglo-Celt that he has been approached by the government party with a view to running in the next General Election in the newly-formed West Cavan-Sligo-Leitrim and South Donegal constitutency.
With his mother from Crossdoney, and cousins and relatives living across the Killeshandra, Cornafean and Arva areas, it had always been a bug bear for the Newtowngore native that a sizeable vote for him was just beyond arm’s reach across the Cavan boundary line. Now though, with the redrawing of the constituency, things may fall into line.
“It come up a bit alright,” he admits. “There is absolutely no doubt that the new constituency plays to my advantage a bit.
“I’ve 52 cousins alone living in the Killeshandra area, so I have a lot of family in West Cavan, so in a local election I’m always left complaining, saying the towns beside me can’t vote for me. Ballyconnell, Killeshandra, Arva, Bawnboy, they’re my nearest door because the Cavan border is on my doorstep,” he said.
The move could see him follow in the footsteps of his father John Joseph 'Joe’ McCartin, a Fine Gael politician, who served in both houses of the Oireachtas and in the European Parliament.
“It’s a decision I will have to make very early in the New Year and it is a decision I will make very early in the New Year,” he pledged.
For a full interview with Cllr McCartin in the week that QBRC took over the former Quinn manufacturing companies, see tomorrow's Anglo-Celt.