*James Ryan (SF). Photograph: John Mangan
WESTBURY based, James Ryan (SF) has been selected by Sinn Féin members in Shannon to be co-opted to Clare County Council following Donna McGettigan’s TD (SF) election to Dáil Éireann.
A candidate in the local elections in June, James was the only name put before members of Sinn Féin’s Shannon Cumann at Tuesday’s selection convention which was held in Treacy’s Oakwood Arms Hotel.
From Shannon Banks, James is married to Jiale and they have two sons. He met his wife while living in China for close to thirteen years where they ran an art gallery while he worked full-time in logistics.
In 2015, he returned to Ireland, over the past nine years he worked in Shannon but subsequently retrained and now works as a part-time teacher, primarily in DEIS schools. He has also been involved with the youth diversion programme in St Mary’s, with Corpus Christi and Direct Provision centres.
He became a member of Sinn Féin in 2018. He will join Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) as the party’s representatives on Clare County Council. It is expected that Ryan will also sit on the Tourism Development Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) and the Regional Health Forum in posts held by McGettigan.
Since contesting the local elections where he polled 455 first preference votes and was the fifth of fifteen candidates eliminated, he has established a Tidy Towns committee in Shannon Banks.
Both Sinn Féin and Fine Gael were informed by Clare County Council following the elections of McGettigan and Joe Cooney TD (FG) that they would have to fill the vacancies by December 15th to allow a special meeting take place to facilitate the co-options.
Speaking following his selection, James stated, “I also volunteer with community groups teaching woodwork and art, for instance with the men’s and women’s sheds and I established the tidy towns group in the area of Shannon Banks, Westbury and Carraig Midhe. I enjoy being active on the ground and recently founded a youth club for the area”.
Housing is the big issues in the county, he stated. “I think people sometimes forget that the local council have significant powers around housing, so I want to use those powers to maximum effect for people. I also want to improve public amenities and facilities and ensure better maintenance of them. I would also advocate for specialist units in primary schools for children with ASD. Crime prevention measures also need to be improved”.
Six months on from the local election, he admitted to The Clare Echo that he didn’t think he would be in line to take a seat on the Council. “The Council elections were only six months ago, I only got 450 or so first preference vote so I was well behind the field, I didn’t expect it. Coming from the local elections for quite a long time we weren’t expecting Donna to become a TD but in saying that four weeks ago I was unsure but two weeks ago I had a different mindsight because I could see the reception Donna was getting on the doors”.
From his time canvassing for both elections, he is aware of a strong desire among the people in the Shannon Municipal District to have better amenities in their locality. “I started doing the Tidy Towns in Shannnon Banks because there was a need for it, I want to see better amenities in as much as places as we can have them, it isn’t always that the Council can do it but I can help lead a team, I do Tidy Towns with ten to fifteen people every Saturday and we’re here since late June”.
Pressure must continue to come from local representatives on the Government to improve health services in the region. “We have to keep pressure on trying to get a better health service for this side of the country, even the figures we’ve seen this week on cancer treatment in the Mid-West is quite shocking. In the Council we can work on the small things like helping community groups but also the bigger things like keeping pressure on the Government to act on setting up an A&E to alleviate the pressure on Limerick, I’ve been there and spent eleven hours on a trolley so I know how bad it is”.
McGettigan prevailed in the 2024 local election having been co-opted at the beginning of 2020 following the death of Mike McKee. James will be the first Sinn Féin councillor in South Clare but he maintained the people of Shannon Town would continue to be well represented by the party. “They are going to get more represenation in some ways because we are adding a TD to the area, Donna will have a good presence in Shannon and Ennis, she will have other people like Tommy Guilfoyle in different areas, we will work together”. He added, “I think we’re stretched the right amount, it is not going to be easy especially with someone like myself, it is brand new to me, I’ll find my feet in next few weeks but I think we can deliver more for people in Shannon as a result of Donna’s election”.
His addition will see South Clare well represented as he joins Parteen based, Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF) plus Cllr Michael Begley (IND) in Clonlara and Cratloe’s Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF). “I’m in Westbury and not too far away from Cathal (Crowe) TD (FF) so the more representation in the area the better. I still want to be in Shannon with Donna and to push for both areas, Donna will be a TD in Shannon which is a very good thing, this is the first time Shannon has a TD and she is someone extremely capable and competent”.
He concluded, “I’m brand new, it’s a few hours since my co-option, I’ll try my best for public in Shannon MD whether it is Shannon Town, Shannon Banks or anywhere else in between”.
