SF politician standing for Irish Seanad after losing seat as MP
A FORMER Sinn Fein MP who suffered a crushing defeat in the UK General Election in December is now a party candidate for the Irish Seanad.
Colum Eastwood took the Foyle seat from Sinn Fein’s Elisha McCallion in a landslide victory with a thumping 17,000 majority in December.
The SDLP leader had almost three times as many votes as Mrs McCallion and the biggest majority that the party has ever secured in the city.
“If elected, alongside Niall O Donnghaile, I will be a voice for the north in the Oireachtas, increasing representation and driving our agenda of giving workers and families a break and advancing unity,” Mrs McCallion said.
Yesterday, Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald announced she would be one of the party’s candidates for the Seanad election after an Ard Chomhairle met in Dublin on Saturday and finalised its field of candidates.
Ms McDonald said Sinn Fein Senators will help to advance the party’s agenda of giving workers and families a break, building homes, reducing and freezing rents, tackling the trolley crisis, securing the state pension at 65 years of age and preparing for Irish Unity.
“Former Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan will run on the Agriculture Panel alongside Councillor Gerry Murray from Mayo,” she said.
“Sitting Senators Paul Gavan and Maire Devine will run again on the Labour Panel while Fintan Warfield will run on the Culture and Education Panel and Niall O Donnghaile will run on the Administrative Panel.
“Former MP for Foyle Elisha McCallion will run on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.”
Other Northern Ireland-based candidates for the election include former Ulster Farmers’ Union President Ian Marshall, who became the first unionist elected to the Seanad in 2018 and Londonderry-based writer and journalist Garbhan Downey, who is running on the platform of establishing an independent university in the north-west.