Cllr Cullen to make Seanad bid
WICKLOW Fine Gael has announced that it will be nominating Councillor Shay Cullen as their candidate to be put forward for national selection for the Seanad.
At the Fine Gael Constituency meeting in Woodenbridge, former TD Andrew Doyle proposed Cllr Cullen’s nomination and confirmed that he was not interested in running for the Seanad at this time. Doyle and others made the point that rural Wicklow needed a strong and able advocate in the Seanad and that Cllr Cullen had proven his ability to do that job with his work ethic and track record todate. Outgoing Minister for Health, Simon Harris, endorsed the nomination.
Cllr Cullen is originally from Roundwood and lives in Newtownmountkennedy. He was a poll topper in the 2019 Local Elections when he secured more than 2,200 votes in the Wicklow district. He served as Cathaoirleach of Wicklow Municipal District in 2017/2018, during which time his main areas of focus were housing, rural roads and tourism. He is also the current Cathaoirleach of the district.
In accepting his nomination, Cllr Cullen said: ‘I am honoured to have been nominated by Fine Gael Wicklow for the national selection process and if I am successful at that stage I will be campaigning for a Seanad seat. However my priorities continue to be representing the people of Wicklow Municipal District and rural Wicklow with the strongest voice that is needed at this stage following on from the loss of any rural representation in the Dail.’
Fianna Fáil’s Pat Casey has also announced his intention to contest the upcoming Seanad elections.
THE Green Party’s Erika Doyle has taken Wicklow County Council seat of newly elected TD, her husband, Deputy Steven Matthews.
The co-option was ratified at a special meeting of the council yesterday (Tuesday).
Erika worked in theatre, film and arts PR before moving into journalism, covering local and national politics for over 12 years. She has worked on numerous election campaigns in various roles and was campaign manager for Deputy Matthews’ election campaigns, including his local election campaign which saw him top the poll in Bray East and his recent successful Dail campaign. She also served as Wicklow Green Party’s PRO.
‘I regard it as a privilege to be entrusted with Deputy Matthews’ seat on Wicklow County Council and Bray Municipal District,’ said Cllr Doyle.
‘I will work hard to ensure that the people who voted for Steven can retain their confidence in the Green Party seat in Wicklow.’
Cllr Doyle said that she had the full support of Wicklow Green Party members who nominated her for the position.
‘After so many years of covering the inner and outer workings of the council in my role as a reporter and dealing with the issues and concerns of people in Bray and Wicklow, I have an understanding of what people expect from their public representatives and have built good working relationships with many councillors and TDs from across the political spectrum,’ she said.
‘My experiences managing election campaigns allowed me to hear directly from people exactly what their concerns are for their county, not to mention what they love about it, and I believe we should work together to address the issues, and accentuate the positives.
‘I am delighted to be adding another strong female voice to Wicklow County Council and building on the amazing work carried out by Deputy Matthews as a Green Party councillor over the past 8 years,’ she said. ‘In a time of climate and biodiversity crisis it’s particularly important to have representatives who understand the scale of the challenges ahead.’