*Cllr Cillian Murphy, Cllr Rita McInerney, Jackie Cahill TD, Michael Shannon and Alan Troy.
FIANNA FÁIL have put forward four candidates in the Kilrush local electoral area for the local elections in June.
As reported by The Clare Echo in advance of the selection convention, the directive from party headquarters was to put forward four candidates in West Clare as Fianna Fáil bids to hold onto three seats, two of which belong to retiring councillors.
Glowing tributes were paid to Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) at the convention held in Kilrush Golf Club ahead of his looming retirement from politics. Tipperary TD, Jackie Cahill (FF) chaired the convention which was attended by Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF), Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) and Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF).
While Fianna Fáil won three seats in the Kilrush LEA five years ago, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) is the only one of these successful candidates seeking re-election. His place on the ballot paper was confirmed in the directive issued by party headquarters.
He will be joined by Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) who was co-opted to the Council last month following the retirement of Cllr Bill Chambers (FF). Michael Shannon (FF) and Alan Troy (FF) have also been given the seal of approval by the party.
In 2019, Fianna Fáil returned three candidates in the Kilrush LEA with Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), Bill Chambers (FF) and Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) securing 23.4%, 15.6% and 12.10% respectively of the first preference vote.
Now living in Doonaha, Cllr Murphy had resided in Kilkee prior to this where he remains an active member of the community. Retired councillor Patrick Keane (FF) had been one of his key advisors for his successful six week campaign in advance of his 2019 election. The co-founder of Loop Head Tourism is a respected tourism consultant.
Doonbeg woman McInerney contested the 2020 General Election where she received 4,136 first preferences and her transfers proved crucial to the party retaining a TD. She is also a former CEO of Ennis Chamber.
Annagh based Shannon was just seven votes off McInerney in the December vote to select Chambers’ successor. The clerical officer with Aer Lingus contested the 2004 local elections where he polled 612 first preferences. For the 2004 elections, 132 of his votes transferred to the then Cllr Chambers after he was the third candidate eliminated while the first candidate eliminated was a certain Cillian Murphy then flying under the Green Party banner.
Lissycasey based Alan Troy who is a native of Carrigaholt has formerly been manager of the busy Talty’s Stores in Lissycasey and currently serves as Operations Manager in glór. He is expected to pull a strong amount of votes from South-West Clare. A prominent member of the greyhounds community, Alan appears on Clare FM’s Sideline View on a frequent basis.
