Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats have announced their Galway City Council candidates for the Local Elections in May 2019, while Independent councillor Mike Cubbard has also announced he is seeking re-election.
Last weekend, Sinn Féin selected its candidates for both the Galway City Council and the Galway County Council, operating a strategy similar to that in 2014. At the party's selection convention, which took place in Peacocke's of Maam Cross, Cllr Tom Healy (Connemara North ), Kevin O'Hara (Connemara South ), Cllr Cathal Ó Conchúir (Galway City West ), Cllr Mark Lohan (Galway City Central ), and Cllr Mairéad Farrell (Galway City East ) were selected.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Lohan said: "We are the voice of those who are forced to endure the indignity of lying on a hospital trolley, of those spending years on a council housing list, of the worker on minimum wage and the family in mortgage distress. We frighten the establishment to the core because we are not like them."
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The Social Democrats has added a third candidate to its Galway city team for the 2019 locals. Owen Hanley [pictured second from right] will stand for the party in Galway City East. The party is also running Sharon Nolan in Galway City Central [second from left] and John Crowley in Galway City West [pictured first left] (also included in the photo is Soc Dem Galway West General Election candidate Niall Ó Tuathail ).
Mr Hanley, a native Galwegian, was involved with the successful gender discrimination campaign led by Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, the Together for Yes campaign earlier this year, and was a canvass leader in the local Michael D Higgins re-election campaign. "The next five years will define Galway for the next 50," he said. "The east side of the city needs an idea orientated council that debates solutions to the transport issues that are choking our city, prioritises local authority built homes, and tackles illegal dumping and anti-social behaviour, as well as supports the best in our communities. Local politics must echo a broader set of values with progressive solutions to climate change, the housing crisis, transport, and the precarious economy."
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Independent city councillor Mike Cubbard also announced he will be seeking re-election. His declaration to defend the seat he first won in 2014 was widely expected. In that election, he ran in Galway City Central, topping the poll with 13.36 per cent of the vote. He will be standing in Galway City Central again on May 24.
Outlining the issues on which he would be running, he identified housing a key area. "I intend to continue the fight for those in need of housing, to challenge the executive and Government on the pace of the delivery of new homes, and ensure supports for those in need of affordable homes are in place." He also outlined community policing, public transport, park and ride facilities, anti-social behaviour, and mental health issues as priorities.
