Fianna Fáil to ‘groom’ candidates for next year’s city local elections

By Denise McNamara

A new way of selecting candidates for Fianna Fáil is being piloted in the city with four representatives appointed to act as ears on the ground for the party with a view to being selected to run in the next local elections.

Letters sent out to the cumann or local branches earlier this year indicated a change of tack for the party following their worst electoral defeat in 2011 since the party’s foundation.

Up to now, the cumann had three votes each to select a candidate in their local electoral area and those vying for selection were either new faces with little or no political experience, or long time political figures.

People interested in pursuing a political career were recently invited to put their names forward to become a party representative in the area giving them a chance to prove their worth ahead of the selection convention for the 2014 Local Elections.

The strategy aims to allow for the selection of young professionals and is part of a major push to repair its image on the ground.

The Comhairle Dáil Ceantair (Constituency Executive) looked at the names submitted and has decided on four representatives for the city – Barna auctioneer Alan Cheevers, law graduate and post graduate student Emmet Greaney, primary school teacher and former councillor John Connolly and chairman of the Salthill/Knocknacarra cumann David Burke, who works as a financial officer in the party headquarters in Dublin.

These four have now been tasked to act as quasi public representatives, meeting members of the public to address their concerns and act as a conduit to their party’s only Galway TD, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív.

The spokesman on Agriculture said while the system had been used in Dublin, this was the first time it had been trialled in Galway City.

“New young people anxious to get involved with politics can put themselves forward. It gives them experience working on the ground before running for election. It’s a way of proving their ability before the convention and before delegates choose candidates,” said Deputy Ó Cuív.

Read more in today’s Galway City Tribune