"We have a great team - nobody can break the bond between the councillors of North Leitrim" - Mitchell
Serious stuff to do says newly elected Independent councillor Eddie Mitchell
Eddie Mitchell, just minutes after being elected to Leitrim County Council said it was hard to express his feelings.
“I spent the last 8 weeks or so talking to my neighbours. My mother died when she was 45 and that was the hardest and best part; to reconnect with my parents through all those people that knew them, that's the hardest part for me,” a clearly emotional Eddie said.
“All the people that helped me, all the people in Glenfarne and Kilty and Rossinver, if I start naming places I'll leave places out, that came out to help me, and the environmental community that came from Fermanagh and Tyrone and everywhere and online that came to support me.
“The transfers just kept coming. We just continued our campaign work through this process and the reaction, we spent two months talking to people about important issues,” he said.
“We have serious stuff to do. Coillte could be buying land for a corporate entity and we have to decide how we're going to deal with that in Leitrim. We have to make sure we do that in a way that's positive and in away that works.
“We need to change legislation in the Dáil, we need help to do that, we have to remove the exemption that forestry has for planning. We need to ban gold mining in Ireland. We can't do that at the council but we can do it with the support of the council and the support of our elected representatives,” he said.
“We have a great team now (on the Council), it’s not just about independents, it's about Mary Bohan, Padraig Fallon, Justin Warnock, Felim Gurn. That's going to be the key, that nobody can break the bond between the councillors of north Leitrim, that's the power that we have,” said Eddie.