*Noeleen Moran. Photograph: Martin Connolly
FORMER GENERAL AND LOCAL election candidate, Noeleen Moran (SF) has emerged as a contender to reappear on the next ballot paper when the decision to select Clare’s four TDs is put to the county.
In what is seen as a big development in local political circles, Moran has refused to rule out putting her name back on the ballot paper, despite much frustration with her treatment in the lead up to the 2020 General Election.
Sinn Féin elected their first candidate to the Dáil in Clare since 1922 when Violet-Anne Wynne topped the poll. The Kilrush woman sent shockwaves through the political world when she announced her departure from the party at the end of February, citing a campaign of “psychological warfare”, discontent within the local ranks and a lack of support at a national level.
Wynne had been placed on the ballot paper following a decision by Noeleen to withdraw a month before the election. Both Noeleen and the late Mike McKee had originally been chosen by the party as candidates but were deselected in October of last year.
When announcing her nomination withdrawal, the Ballyvaughan native was critical of the party including taking five months to select a candidate. “I do not think that is an appropriate or fair way to treat someone who was willing to put their name forward and had been selected for the previous twenty months,” she said at the time.
Noeleen was the highest polling female candidate in Clare for the 2016 General Election with 4,216 first preference votes. She unsuccessfully ran for local elections in Clare in 2014 and 2019.
Outside of politics, the Ennis resident has been a very active figure within the Mid-West Health Campaign, serving as the county’s spokesperson.
While she has kept tight-lipped on Deputy Wynne’s Sinn Féin exit, she remarked to The Clare Echo, “I haven’t gone away” and that she remained a member of the political party while keeping her focus on the hospital campaign.
Currently, Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) is the party’s only elected representative in Clare, she was co-opted to the Council in January 2020 following the death of Mike McKee. She told The Clare Echo her focus was to retain the seat won by her late friend in the 2024 local elections.
McGettigan believed that previous concerns raised by Noeleen had been addressed, “it was unfortunate Noeleen took her name out of the running, you never know she could have been a TD”.
