One more seat and three councillors retiring from politics makes the battle for the seven seats in the Castlebar electoral area one of the most interesting races in this year’s local elections. The transfers of Burriscarra, Portroyal and Roslee with their combined population of 1,327 people from the old Ballinrobe area to the Castlebar area has really thrown the race for seats in the county town wide open. There are 12 going to post on June 5 and, with only three sitting councillors going for re-election, there will be at the very least four new faces or maybe three new and one old representing the Castlebar area in the next council.
Castlebar will be saying good bye in this new term to long serving councillors Johnny Mee of Labour and Sean Bourke of Fianna Fáil, along with Fine Gael’s whip in the last council Paddy McGuinness, who decided to step down after one five-year term on the council. The three sitting current councillors who will be looking to keep hold of their seats are Fine Gael pair Henry Kenny and Cyril Burke and Fianna Fáil man Al McDonnell.
While those three will be favoured to retain their seats, a whole host of newcomers, along with one face from councils a while ago, will be looking to pick up seats. Frank Durcan’s decision to throw his hat back in the ring after a number of years out of politics may have surprised many people, but the Castlebar-based auctioneer knows this business very well and wouldn’t have put himself forward if he wasn’t confident of gaining a seat. Fine Gael have put forward two of their current three town councillors in Castlebar, Eugene McCormack and Kevin Guthrie the new names on the ticket alongside Kenny and Bourke.
Fianna Fáil, having lost the services of Sean Bourke who was the first man elected in this constituency last time out, have town councillors Blackie Gavin and Aidan Crowley running alongside newcomer Mickey Feeney with sitting Cllr Al McDonnell. Both Gavin and Crowley have been on Castlebar Town Council for a couple of terms and will be hopeful of taking a seat. Crowley was on the Fianna Fáil ticket for the county council last time also and knows that he will have to put in a better showing than the 704 first preference votes he got in 2004 if he wants to be involved in the business end of the count.
With Labour losing their only sitting councillor with Johnny Mee’s retirement from politics, Harry Barrett, who ran for the party in the last general election, is their candidate this time around. He was co-opted onto Castlebar Town Council at the start of the year when Mee stepped down from that chamber. While Mee transcended political divides in the past Barrett has been a tireless campaigner and canvasser of late and should put in a good showing come polling day.
Sinn Féin had been building their hopes in the town around Noel Campbell who was elected to Castlebar Town Council in the 2004 elections. However Campbell had to resign his seat due to legislation not allowing councillors to hold certain positions in the civil service. Campbell’s place in the chamber was taken by Therese Ruane earlier this year. Ruane, who is the sister of Northern Ireland’s Education Minister Cathriona Ruane, will be looking to build up the party’s profile and votes outside of the urban area which elected Campbell last time, but she is a hard worker on the ground and her work with the Mayo Intercultural Association has marked her out as a hard community worker. Ruane will be in with a shout of taking a seat if people, as expected, use the local elections as a backlash vote against the Government.
The last man in the race was the man who was pipped at the post in the last election, Independent town councillor Michael Kilcoyne. Kilcoyne was eliminated on the eighth count as the last seat was decided in favour of his former party colleague, Labour’s Johnny Mee. Just 55 votes separated the two men at the end and after polling 1,204 first preference votes in the last election, if Kilcoyne can improve by a few more votes he should take a seat in the next council.
Candidates
Fine Gael: Cyril Burke (sitting ), Henry Kenny (sitting ), Kevin Guthrie, Eugene McCormack.
Fianna Fáil: Al McDonnell (sitting ), Blackie Gavin, Aidan Crowley, Mickey Feeney.
Labour: Harry Barrett
Sinn Féin: Theresa Ruane
Independent: Michael Kilcoyne, Frank Durcan
