EDITORIAL: Six familiar names missing from the Tipperary Local Elections ballot papers
The editorial in this week's Nationalist and Tipperary Star
A total of 70 candidates will be on the ballot paper in the Local Elections in Tipperary when voters go to the polls on Friday, June 7.
The 70 candidates will contest the 40 seats in the election to secure a role as a new member of Tipperary County Council for the next five years.
The last Local Elections in 2019 saw 79 candidates enter the fray to be elected.
This time around there will be six familiar names missing from the ballot paper as they have decided not to put their names forward.
All have given sterling service to the people of Tipperary for a long number of years and deserve our gratitude for their dedication and commitment to what can be a very challenging role.
The six include three former chairmen of the local authority, Seamus Hanafin, Michael Fitzgerald and the out-going chairman Ger Darcy.
It also includes former TD Noel Coonan and councillors John “Rocky” McGrath and Hughie McGrath.
The 70 seats are to be filled in eight electoral areas - Cahir, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel-Tipperary, Clonmel, Nenagh, Newport, Roscrea-Templemore and Thurles.
All 70 candidates are busy knocking on doors as voting day arrives and voters should avail of the opportunity to engage openly with all of the candidates.
Such engagement is essential in our democracy and it will enable the voter to make up their mind on who to trust with their vote.
All 70 deserve our admiration for having the courage to put themselves before the public and for having the desire to serve their communities all over the county for the next five years.
It is also incumbent on us all to go out and vote on the day in the 2024 Local Elections on Friday, June 7 and elect public representatives that will represent their communities to the best of their abilities during the term of the new council.