Laois Sinn Féin wants to mushroom at local elections

Laois Sinn Féin launched its local and EU election campaign in Portlaoise with the party's Laois Offaly TD hoping for a clean sweep from its seven candidates.

Buoyed by popular showings in the opinion polls, the party is targeting to win substantially more seats in Laois County Council than the two modest two it has held since the 2014 election.

Director of Elections in Laois Andrew Kelly presided over the meeting held at the Parish Centre.

He said the party is running seven candidates for the council elections on June 7 and two candidates for the European Parliament elections on the same day.

Graiguecullen and Portarlington Municipal District candidate Aaron Kelly outlined the work he has been involved with in recent years, in conjunction with the sitting SF representative in the area Cllr Aidan Mullins. Mr Kelly said this ranged from completion of unfinished estates, road safety and improvements and housing.

There are six seats on offer in the large electoral area on the east of the county.

The Portlaoise Municipal District candidates are Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley, Maria Mc Cormack and Jason Phelan who are both facing the electorate for the first time.

They underlined what was described as an urgent need to address the provision of affordable housing to buy and rent. They also made the case for improving local services and the provision of an indoor sports and basketball facility.

Cllr Dwane Stanley urged those present to ensure that the largest Sinn Féin team ever is elected.

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have ruled the roost for too long,” she told the meeting.

Ms McCormack stressed that change starts at local level and Mr Phelan urged local people to use their vote to bring about change. There are six seats in the district which includes The Rock, Abbeyleix and Ballinakill.

The Borris-in-Ossory Mountmmellick Municipal District candidates are first-time candidate Helen Campion and Lorna Holohan Garry who is running for a second time. There are six seats in the district.

Ms Campion outlined her work as a voluntary community activist and said all towns in the District had great potential for improvement and become important locations for tourism and festivals.

Ms Holohan Garry gave an account of her voluntary work including pressing the case for the flood relief works to be accelerated in Mountmellick and Clonaslee along with highlighting the need for autism services to be improved.

The two EU candidates are current MEP Chris Mc Manus and Michelle Gildernew MP in Westminister.

In his contribution, MEP Chris Mc Manus stressed that among the most important issues now are, healthcare, housing, cost of living, Irish reunification and protecting military neutrality. If elected, he committed to working with Ms Gildernew and other SF MEPs in Europe to keep these issues to the fore.

The evening concluded with comments by the Sinn Féin TD for Laois Offaly Brian Stanley. The 2020 General Election poll topper and former county councillor said the party has a great slate of candidates in what will be a crucial poll.

Sinn Féin was dwarfed by a Fine Gael / Fianna Fáil alliance after the 2019 local elections in Laois. 

“This election is very important. Aidan Mullins and Caroline Dwane Stanley had achieved great things as councillors despite being just 2 out of 19. Imagine what we could achieve with 7 out of 19 councillors,” said Dep Stanley.

Voters will go to the polls on June 7 in the Local and European elections.