A petition calling for the new Shannon Town Park to be renamed in honour of the late Sinn Féin councillor Mike McKee is gathering momentum.
Over 1,000 people have signed a petition seeking to have the community park renamed in memory of Mike McKee who died at the end of November. His final public engagement as a political representative was to attend the opening of the park which cost €1.5m and the November Shannon Municipal District meeting.
Following his death, members of the local Sinn Féin cumann approached the McKee family about the possibility of launching a campaign to get the park named after Mike. The McKees gave their backing to the suggestion and an online petition began.
Hundreds signed the petition online, in an attempt to get the signatures of those not on social media, Donna McGettigan and Isobel Browne set up a stand at SkyCourt Shopping Centre in Shannon which attracted one hundred signatures in the space of an hour. Mike’s brother Paul also spent an hour in the Town Centre adding a further one hundred names to the petition which has since passed the one thousand mark.
“People at times queued to sign, they also expressed how they felt about Mike and the good that he did for the town and some assumed the park should naturally be named after Mike,” Donna told The Clare Echo.
McGettigan emphasised that the move is not a political stunt. “This is about the town of Shannon showing their appreciation to a person who was instrumental in many good things in the town, a good person who helped many a person, who loved Shannon and had its best interests at heart. This is about Mike McKee and the town park that he worked hard to achieve”.
She confirmed they would be securing more signatures in January before submitting a proposal to Clare County Council.
