New TD's sister in line to fill Fine Gael vacancy on Offaly County Council

Offaly County Council headquarters, Aras an Chontae, Tullamore

placeholder image — Offaly County Council headquarters, Aras an Chontae, Tullamore

Fianna Fail expected to nominate Tullamore Tidy Towns activist for seat

NOMINATIONS will close tomorrow (Wednesday, December 11) for the vacancies created on Offaly County Council by the election of two sitting councillors to the Dail.

Cllrs John Clendennen, Fine Gael and Tony McCormack, Fianna Fail, were successful in the Offaly constituency in the general election on November 29 and their council seats will now be filled through the co-option process.

With co-option, the party holding the seat decides on a replacement and nominations for the Clendennen vacancy will close at 9am on Wednesday morning. Nominations for the McCormack vacancy close at 5pm tomorrow.

Fine Gael sources have indicated that Eleanor Clendennen, sister of John, has expressed an interest in the council seat.

Deputy Clendennen said he is respecting the party nomination process for the co-option in advance of a convention which will make the decision on Sunday.

“It's a Fine Gael seat and I don't want to take the party for granted,” said the new TD. “With democracy in a party it must be done in an open and fair manner and anyone can be let come forward.”

He added that geography is a consideration however, saying that replacement councillors normally come from the same area as the elected member.

Eleanor Clendennen qualified as a teacher but then returned home to help run the family pub in Kinnitty.

She is also well known locally as a goalkeeper (pictured below) with the Kinnitty and Offaly camogie teams.

Tullamore man Shane Murray, an employee at Tullamore Distillery, is the front runner for the vacancy left by Cllr McCormack.

Fianna Fail sources identified Mr Murray as a potential candidate for the co-option at the time of the general election and while nominations are open until Wednesday evening, at present it appears a contest at the convention on Thursday evening in Tullamore is unlikely.

Tradition dictates that the replacement councillor will be from the town of Tullamore, as is the case with Tony McCormack.

There was controversy in 2011 when Tullamore-based Paddy Rowlan was co-opted to the council on the election of Clara's Barry Cowen to the Dail.

He is chair of Tullamore Tidy Towns and recently helped the local group win a 10th gold medal in the national competition.