*Tommy Guilfoyle. Photograph: John Mangan
ENNIS’ five sitting councillors should be returned with Sinn Féin likely to take one of the two remaining seats in the Ennis Municipal District, a departing councillor has predicted.
Automatically Fine Gael are going to lose a seat in the Ennis MD before a vote is counted having failed to get a replacement candidate since February following Cllr Johnny Flynn’s (FG) decision not to contest the local elections on June 7th.
Both he and Cllr Ann Norton (IND) are not seeking re-election while the sitting five of Cllr Mary Howard (FG), Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), Cllr Paul Murphy (FG), Cllr Pat Daly (FF) and Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) will all appear on the ballot paper.
Challenging candidates include Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF), Bridget Ginnity (GP), Tommy Guilfoyle (SF), Jacek Kazimierz Kwaśny (IND), Ruairí Keenan (IND), Amanda Major (IND), Seamus Ryan (LAB) and Hilary Tonge (SD).
Speaking on The Clare Echo’s political podcast, The Electoral Chair, Cllr Flynn outlined, “Political anoraks have said to me that in a group of seven you will always have two that will lose out so with myself and Ann out these particular political watchers feel the sitting five are quite safe, I can’t say whether that is the case or not but that is from people watching from the last twenty five years. It looks as though the sitting five are safe and that there are two possible seats up for grabs, whether Ennis 2040 and support of that becomes a serious issue that might alter it, I think eight of the eleven have raised concerns with the plans”.
Both Barefield where Cllr Norton received a base of support and the Tulla Rd where Flynn resides are now open ground for candidates. “The population of Ennis has grown from 25,000 to 28,000, the Municipal District has another 6,000 if not 7,000, you have a Barefield vote that Cllr Ann Norton would have had a very strong connection to, there is nobody from Barefield”.
Flynn continued, “The geographics of an area are important, Paul Murphy was in Clarecastle on his own for a long time but you have Tom O’Callaghan on the Kildysart Rd, Tommy Guilfoyle in Clarecastle and Clare Colleran Molloy in Ballybeg so it is quite concentrated. Tommy Guilfoyle is running a strong campaign, he has been campaigning since before Christmas, he has a strong team and is making an impact, he is well known in the Cloughleigh area where he is a postman, I find him quite personable”.
“It is very difficult to call, it is very volatile this time round, the Sinn Féin vote will be strong and there is a strong Green vote, I would have got a lot of a Green vote, I always saw myself as a Blue Green as an environmentalist but I wouldn’t be an ideological Green, the environment has to be protected but you have to be able to run a society and support people. It is very interesting”.
Of the sitting five, O’Callaghan has never been elected before. He faces a “different challenge” according to Johnny. “I noticed that a lot of the sitting councillors, I haven’t noticed Tom putting up posters, he is at a disadvantage if the other sitting councillors are putting up posters, there was an attempt for people to agree on posters but I think posters are very important, I agreed not to put them up in 2019 and we nearly had a poster free zone, I think Tom has challenges that other sitting councillors don’t have, he is only there for two years but I’ve been impressed with him, he is well able to articulate concerns on democracy, transparency, accountability, he is very well versed and prepared when he comes to meetings because he has read his papers, he puts down very well written notices of motions asking questions, I think he has more challenges than the other four”.
