Fine Gael will choose who is to be co-opted onto Brian Walsh’s Galway City Council seat at a convention this Tuesday at 8pm in the Menlo Park Hotel.
The co-option is necessary following Dep Walsh’s successful election to Dáil Éireann last week. A co-option is where the party of the candidate who has vacated the seat chooses who will succeed him/her.
Dep Walsh’s seat in the Galway City East ward and only FG members who live in that ward will be entitled to vote at Tuesday’s convention.
Fine Gael will be looking for someone who can meet the challenges of council work, both in City Hall and as a representative for his/her constituents. The party will also want to ensure the person chosen can also retain the seat held by Dep Walsh since 2004.
It is understood that Frank Fahy, a taxi driver, and Barra Nevin, a pharmacist, both of whom ran in Galway City East in the 2009 locals will seek co-option.
In a statement to the Galway Advertiser, Mr Nevin said if elected he would work to ensure Galway’s waters are “fully utilised” in order to make it “a number one destination for cruise ships and regattas, which would be a great boost for Galway as the ‘marine tourist hub’ of Ireland”.
He also said that he wants to see Galway become “a health care destination with four hospitals and I will show a keen interest in how it develops in the coming years”.
