*Denis Vaughan. Photograph: John Mangan
ENNISTYMON’s Denis Vaughan (LAB) has said he is up for the challenge as he prepares to battle four sitting councillors for a seat in the Ennistymon local electoral area.
A prominent activist in North Clare, Vaughan has joined the field in North Clare for the local elections which take place on June 7th. An impresario, Denis is bidding to end a ten year gap to have a Labour representative on Clare County Council, the party has had no seat since Pascal Fitzgerald lost his seat in the Shannon Municipal District in 2014.
Running for election “is one of the reasons I came back home,” Denis admitted. He returned to North Clare a decade ago but remains a regular commuter to England and further afield with his business dealings.
Pundits on The Electoral Chair, The Clare Echo’s political pundits maintained that Vaughan was unlikely to usurp sitting councillors in North Clare. “I like a challenge, here we are, there is a lot of work to be done,” he said of the underdog status.
“There is a lack of housing, we have a hospital crisis, we have bad roads, poor public transport, rural emigration, farming is in a terrible state, we have a crisis at our regional hospital in Limerick even this week we have the awful inquest going on for Aoife Johnston,” Denis stated.
He added, “we’ve a problem with the prisons and we have to do something about it. We need more Gardaí, we need more improvements at Shannon Airport with more international and intercontinental flights, we need more social housing and less holiday homes, our children deserve more playgrounds and more recreational facilities”.
In November, Denis stepped down as Chair of the Clare Labour branch to begin preparing for his election bid. “We have to do something about the roads, we have a big problem from Kilnamona to Ennis and Ennistymon to Lisdoonvarna, they need to be strengthened out, they are hazards, we need wider roads in Ballyvaughan. Clare County Council must stop selling council houses, they are bought for the people and must be kept for the people”.
The late Martin Lafferty of Lisdoonvarna was the last Labour councillor elected in North Clare, he left the party following the 1991 election and was successful in retaining his seat as an Independent in 1999 and 2004. “Martin Lafferty used to top the poll for many years so I can’t see why I can’t,” an optimistic Vaughan outlined.
“I was always interested in politics, I was involved with one or two things in Britain, not least the civil rights movement and the rock against racism, I also headed the trainee association at EMI going back many years,” he recalled.
He believed his work with Save our Shannon during the pandemic was crucial to the survival of the International Airport which is on course to record 2m passengers this year for the first time since 2009. “We succeeded in saving Shannon Airport, I was convinced the Government wanted to close it down and we kicked up a fuss and stopped it in 2020 and 2021. The Mid-West needs Shannon Airport, we would be lost without it, we are in April and have masses of tourists around now thanks to the Airport”.
Vocal on the need to preserve the cottages at Blake’s Corner, he doesn’t believe this will hurt his vote in Ennistymon. “Blake’s Corner has been resolved, there is a bypass that will be put in place but this has been held up by a judicial review, there will be a new plan around Ennistymon, the controversy is over and finished, it will be resolved”.
Vaughan concluded, “We need more social housing and less holiday homes. We need the matter of the hospital crisis addressed urgently, the Government have a large surplus in the bank, we need to pay doctors and nurses better wages instead of letting them to emigrate to Australia. Farming is pivotal in our economy and it must be protected, people need to eat”.
