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Small number of presidential hopefuls pitching to Galway County Council
Galway Bay fm newsroom – Three presidential hopefuls out of the original list of 9 have arrived at County Hall to make their presentations
Marie-Goretti Moylan, Patrick Feeney and Peter Casey will present to the 27 of 39 councillors present.
A revised showed that 6 hopefuls would address the council but so far Gavin Duffy, Gemma O Doherty or Kevin Sharkey have not arrived
Senator Joan Feeman was on the original list but has opted to present to Fingal council which is also meeting today
However her daughter Aisling is at County Hall and is willing to talk to the Galway councillors on her mother’s behalf
County councillors did briefly consider deferring the special meeting when only one candidate had arrived at the start time of noon
In her presentation Athlone native Marie- Goretti Moylan said she wants funding for the Natural History Museum to put a dinosaur on display and wants a study into how people with disabilities can take up sport.
She declined to speak to Galway Bay fm news, as she also did last Thursday when she was presenting to the city councillors
Peter Casey is the next hopeful to take the podium.
Last Thursday, 10 candidates made their presentations to city councillors.
This afternoon any nomination from the city council will be discussed and voted on at the council’s ordinary monthly meeting which gets underway at 4pm.
Any nomination from the County Council will be discussed and voted on at the county council’s meeting this day two weeks Sept 24th.
Meanwhile, former Dragons Den star Sean Gallagher has now received the backing of three local authorities in his bid to become a presidential candidate.
Sean Gallagher received his first two endorsements in the past few hours with Roscommon and Mayo County Councils giving him the nod and Leitrim county council has just endorsed him this lunchtime.
It means he just needs one more in order to get on the ballot paper.
Fellow Dragon Gavin Duffy has one and Senator Joan Freeman also has one.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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