Independent county councillor James Charity has confirmed he will be running in next May's local elections, and fight to retain the seat he won in 2014 for the Oranmore-Athenry electoral area.
Cllr Charity said Galway will face many challenges during the next council term of 2019 to 2024, not least the he Galway city and county councils being amalgamated into one local authority. "Holding the executive of the councils to account will become more important than ever before," he said. "This is something I have strived to do throughout this term as we also seek to secure additional funding from central Government for both the county and city."
Other challenges he said the county faces include housing, homelessness, mortgage arrears and debt, as well as issues of transport, connectivity, services, roads and broadband for rural Ireland. In terms of farming, he said beef producers "face into economic uncertainty" due to Government being "unwilling or unable to challenge the monopoly of the factories and supermarkets".
