Mayo Sinn Féin Cllr Rose Conway-Walsh lost out in the race for the party’s nomination for the EU elections next year at their selection convention last Sunday night in Sligo. Delegates on the evening selected Matt Carty as the Sinn Féin candidate in the EU elections in the north-western constituency.
Carty was selected at a selection convention in the Radisson Hotel in Sligo on Sunday attended by more than 700 delegates.
Cllr Conway-Walsh, who was a general election candidate for the party in the last general election, said after the convention: “I want to congratulate Matt Carty on his success. I know he will make an excellent MEP and represent people right across this region offering the Sinn Féin alternative of critical constructive engagement with the EU. He will stand up against EU measures that are damaging to Irish interests. I am happy that I let my name go forward to convention and thank Mayo Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantair for nominating me, Pat Doherty MP for proposing me and Cllr Gerry Murray for seconding me. Above all, I want to thank all the Sinn Féin members from Mayo and throughout the region who travelled to the convention and voted for me. I am now looking forward to next year’s local elections here in Mayo and intend to seek nomination for the West Mayo newly extended area. In the meantime, I will continue to work diligently with the people I represent to promote their best interests in these very difficult times.”
Speaking after winning the nomination Mr Carty said: “I am delighted to have received the nomination this evening as I was up against strong competition from Senator Kathryn Reilly and Councillors Rose Conway-Walsh and Martin Kenny. I am honoured to be representing Sinn Féin in what will be a new constituency when the commission reports and I want to take this opportunity to call for the report to be expedited. I am very, very confident that Sinn Féin can win a seat in this constituency. In the EU election campaign I will very clearly be a voice for fairness in Ireland and in Europe. I will be a strong voice against austerity whether emanating from Leinster House, Brussels or Strasbourg. I will stand up first and foremost in the interests of Ireland and Irish citizens. Unlike other parties, Sinn Féin will not kow-tow to each and every EU diktat. It’s time for strong Irish leadership in Europe. Sinn Féin will deliver that leadership. And I fully intend to win a European seat in this constituency to play my part in that delivery.”
