The Galway West branch of the Social Democrats held a meeting in Renmore on Monday, February 27, to select a candidate to be nominated for co-option for a vacant council seat on Galway City Council.
The previous occupant of the seat was Owen Hanley, who resigned his seat in the council in early January 2023, following allegations made against him on social media. The nominee is Coláiste Éinde secondary school teacher Alan Curran, whose extensive resumé has seen him participate in a plethora of local organisations including, Galway Cycling Campaign, Native Woodland Trust Galway Branch, Irish Wildlife Trust Galway as well as being an active member of the Galway Mountain Rescue Team for eight years and coaching athletics, the U14 and Junior Rugby Team and an underage coach for St. Michael's GAA. Curran is also a co-founder of the Galway Cycle Bus project, a volunteer led group that allows children to cycle safely to and from school.
Co-option
The Social Democrats have now submitted the nomination to Galway City Council with councillors having the opportunity to vote on the co-option at the council meeting on March 6.
Speaking about the nomination Curran said, “I’m excited to hopefully join the other councillors and put my shoulder to the wheel for the rest of the Council term. If co-opted by Galway City Council, I’ll be focusing on practical solutions to make the East side of Galway more liveable and family friendly, with better transport solutions, improvements to our parks and playgrounds and building community spirit.”
Excited
Chairperson of the Galway West branch, Niall Ó Tuathail said that he is grateful to Alan for putting himself forward and that he is excited to see what he will enact as councillor.
“We’re very grateful to Alan for putting himself forward. He has great experience in turning practical ideas into positive change for people’s lives and we’re excited to see what he can do as a Councillor.
In 2019, a significant number of people in Galway City East voted for progressive social democratic and green ideas that we campaigned on and we know that Alan will represent those values with the utmost of integrity and hard work.
“We hope that Councillors will recognise that Alan is a good candidate to represent the values of the people who voted for that seat, and that Alan will become a good colleague for them to work together to making Galway a better place to live.”
