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11th February 2014 • Volume 21, Issue 05 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. • Tel: 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie
Browne Steps In As Murphy Steps Out John Paul Browne
Jigs And Reels At Local Fine Gael
In a surprise development in the Balbriggan local electoral area, Tony Murphy, who was on the Fine Gael ticket for the upcoming local elections, has declared his intention to run as an independent candidate. This leaves Jean Fay Brady as the sole Balbriggan based Fine Gael candidate in the upcoming election. This development comes hot on the heels of Fine Gael’s controversial decision to impose an extra candidate in the Balbriggan ward
the original candidates on the ticket. Incumbent candidate, Tom O’Leary, also from Skerries, is regarded as a good worker for the area, and many well positioned Fine Gael people have told this newspaper that there is a feeling that this is a concerted effort by headquarters to oust him from office. The County Leader contacted Fine Gael General Secretary, Tom Curran in an effort to shed some light on why it was deemed necessary to impose a fifth candidate. He By Patrick Finnegan said, “We carried out some research, which “I did not get sufficient commitment from the showed that we needed to augment our government party,” says Murphy, who had forces in the electoral area, and we have done taken a position on the Fine Gael ticket, that. John Paul has family connections in other parts of the area, including Rush but has now decided to run as an and Lusk. No candidate welcomes the independent. extra internal competition, but we feel Murphy, who has lived and worked in that he’ll target a different voter to the Balbriggan for over 30 years, stated others,” he said. that he would not be compromised Rumours have been rife, connecting by “old style politics”. Browne with an approach from Fianna The decision of Fine Gael to impose a Fail, to stand for them in the election, fifth candidate to contest the local and that was the reason why Fine Gael elections in the Balbriggan Electoral Jean Fay Brady swooped to include him on their ticket. area, has come as a surprise to many However, Curran denied that he had any Fine Gael supporters in the region. John Paul Browne (35), a barrister, who hails knowledge of this, saying that this “was from Skerries, has been dramatically added to never discussed with me at any time during the ticket. Browne had already lost out to my talks with J.P,” he concluded. sitting councillor, Tom O’Leary at the party’s John Paul Browne said that he was looking selection convention. Many view this as a vote forward to the challenge. “I think it is a good of no confidence by Fine Gael headquarters in strategy by the party to run five candidates in
Not Enough Demand For Malahide Shuttle Members of the Malahide Shuttle Group and Malahide Community Forum are “deeply disappointed” that the recently launched Malahide Shuttle Service is no longer running. The service, which took four years of persistent negotiation and numerous applications to the National Transport Authority to get approved, had to be stopped after only a couple of months in service, as not enough people were using it. Michael Gill of the Malahide Community Forum said that all involved were disappointed at the lacklustre response, as a great deal of market research had been done prior to the launch of the service. “During the eight weeks up to Christmas that the
Tony Murphy
the election, as there are eight seats avail- electoral area, bringing the total to five able. I think it shows great commitment to candidates. John Paul Browne and I will be local politics,” he said. When asked out there chasing new votes in about an approach from Fianna Fail, Skerries, on top of the 1,833 first prefBrowne confirmed that he had erence votes I got at the last election. received a phone call, but no offer was We’ll be looking for at least three seats made. “I have no interest in any other in the Balbriggan Ward, and hoping to party. I have been in Fine Gael for improve our votes in this area.” years and am totally committed to the When asked if he thought it strange party,” he concluded. that Browne was brought on to the This revelation that the current Fine ticket, having already lost to him at the Gael candidates are not in a position Cllr. O’Leary selection convention, He said, “Yes I to maximise their votes, or reach the am surprised at the decision, but that’s electorate in their area, will be greeted with the wisdom of the experienced people in dismay and disappointment by them and their party headquarters. There’s nothing I can do followers, and may be seen as a vote of no about it,” he said. confidence in the team. The County Leader spoke to O’Leary about his reaction to the situation, and he was defiant. He said, “I suppose it was a bit of a surprise, as we already had four candidates in the field. Fine Gael are aggressively chasing new seats in the Balbriggan
shuttle ran, an average of only six people used it each day. This number was nothing like enough to justify the service in commercial terms, so as a result of this, the shuttle is no more,” he told the County Leader. “Despite the encouragement we got from market surveys and many personal interviews, it seems that Malahide commuters prefer to use their own transport to the station. We were really surprised, because during our extensive research, we felt that there was a genuine need for the service,” he said. “So we can’t imagine why, when all was said and done, that there was such a poor take up.” Gill also said that he wanted to stress to local residents that if any new services in their town were to stay active, the participation in using them was crucial to their success. “At the end of the day, if people don’t use a service it won’t stay running,” he concluded.
Planning For Great Success
Downey Planning have taken up the option of sponsoring the Planning Section on North County Leader's website, northcountyleader.ie and also in the newspaper. Managing Director of Downey Planning, John Downey is pictured here with Sean Fitzmaurice, North County Leader's Director of IT. Turn to page 10 to see how you can grow your business with northcountyleader.ie.