Callanan may quit politics

Date Published: 31-Aug-2007

The only Sinn Féin member of Galway City Council, Cllr. Daniel Callanan, said yesterday that he was extremely unlikely to seek re-election to the local authority following his resignation from the party earlier this week.

Disillusionment with both the Sinn Féin leadership and the lack of power of local councillors has prompted the city-based solicitor to consider abandoning politics altogether.

He told the Galway City Tribune that he had been unhappy with the party leadership for some time, and the “final straw”came when local representatives were instructed to vote for certain candidates in the recent Seanad elections.

While he intends to see out the remaining two years of the current council as an Independent, he said he was unlikely to stand for re-election in 2009.

“I don’t know about my own future,” he said. “I’m unlikely to be running in the next local elections, unless…..