COUNTY WEXFORD’S LOCAL ELECTIONS CANDIDATES
SIXTY-FOUR candidates have announced their intention to run for election in County Wexford on May 24. Our guide lists all 64, with brief biographical details. However, the deadline for close of nominations is May 4, so more candidates may yet emerge to co
David Hynes, Independent Davitt Road South, Wexford
Involved in Wexford politics for the best part of 22 years, twice serving as
Mayor of Wexford during a successful career, Cllr Hynes has also worked as an addiction counsellor and is Chairperson of Wexford Disability
Services. Married to
Margaret, he has three children, Paul, Aine and Noel, and three grandchildren.
The independent councillor believes social housing in Wexford requires a major boost. He has also vowed to improve local mental health and addiction services and campaign for a Wexford County Acute Psychiatric Unit and for ‘It’s Good 2 Talk’ to get proper funding, In addition, he intends to push for 24/7 cardiac care for the south-east
Tom Forde, Sinn Féin Liam Mellows Park, Wexford
Having been co-opted onto Wexford County
Council in place of outgoing Sinn Féin stalwart Anthony
Kelly in December of 2017, Tom Forde had big shoes to fill.
One of the youngest candidates in the race, the father of three and native of Liam Mellows
Park native is a school teacher at Wexford Educate Together National School. Cllr Forde places a strong emphasis on issues facing young families in Wexford and has been vocal in campaigning for an improvement of services and access to housing.
A volunteer with Wexford MarineWatch, he also sits on the council subcommittees for mental health and housing.
Among the biggest issues that Forde intends to focus on, if elected, are housing, the mental health crisis and the development of Rosslare Europort.
Colin Murphy, Fianna Fáil Wexford town
Wexford electoral area
Fianna Fáil candidate
Colin Murphy of
Green Street, is the sacristan at Bride
Street Church and also a respected stage manager for music and theatre shows.
Fascinated by politics from a young age, he was influenced by family friend, the late
Gus Byrne and joined Fianna Fáil in 1999. He was a local election candidate in 2009 and a decade on with more experience under his belt, is putting his name forward again ‘ because I genuinely care about this town,its people and its future’.
Local politics is about people and improving their lives in the community, according to Colin who feels the town has suffered in the last five years due to the lack of town representation with the abolition of the Borough Council.
Ger Walsh, Fine Gael John’s Road, Wexford
Ger Walsh, a first time
Fine Gael candidate in the Wexford electoral district is a native of
Taghmon who has lived in Wexford town since the 1980’s.
After a long career in journalism including a decade as editor of the Wexford People
Group, he moved to senior management at Independent News and Media. He later established the Chronicle free newspaper which he sold last year.
His role in the media brought him into close contact with the workings of the local authority and the challenges faced by people in their daily lives.
He believes the next Council should address parking and traffic management in Wexford town and tackle very different issues in the district’s rural areas including Castlebridge, Screen, Curracloe, Glynn, Barntown and parts of Taghmon.
Leonard Kelly, Independent Clonard
Having contested the local elections in 2014 as an independent candidate and the
2016 general election for the Social
Democrats, Leonard
Kelly returns to the fray in 2019. Having narrowly missed out on a seat in 2014, Kelly has maintained his public profile in the intervening years, setting up several initiatives. In particular, he carries a focus on mental health and worked to establish Friends of It’s Good 2 Talk, Community Minds and Rising Voices.
He’s also behind the successful ‘Wexford Little Free Library’ with the goal of increasing literacy and community sharing.
He previously served on the board of management at Wexford Educate Together and is on the board of Wexford Swimming Pool and Caravan Park. His main aim is to ‘support and strengthen community’.
Joe Ryan, Labour Party Cromwellsfort, Wexford
Joe Ryan lives in Cromwellsfort where he was founding chairperson of the residents association.
He is a science teacher at Wexford CBS and a member of the ASTI.
He was twice elected to Wexford Borough
Council, serving as
Mayor in 2010-11.
He has served on the management board of Gaelscoil Charman, Wexford CBS and Wexford Vocational College. Joe spearheaded a campaign to retain the South Wexford Railway. He is a member of Wexford in Bloom Committee; a volunteer with Wexford Tidy Towns and a board member of both the Irish Agricultural Museum and Wexford Women’s Refuge where he has served as chairperson, playing a key part in the plan to build a new refuge.
Joe writes a political column for the County Wexford Reporter focussing on a range of issues.
George Lawlor, Labour Party Richmond Drive, Wexford
Cllr Lawlor was first elected to Wexford
Borough Council in
2004 and followed this by topping the poll in the Local
Elections of 2009 in both the Borough and County Council
Electoral areas. He was re-elected in 2014 on the 1st count.
He is a founding member of Wexford Marinewatch and is the organisation’s current Chairman.
He is also a founding Board member of The Collective Sensory Group and a Board member of Ard Aoibhinn Services.
Cllr Lawlor currently works as Oireachtas Parliamentary Assistant to Labour Leader Brendan Howlin and was a member of Howlin’s team during the 2011-2016 government and a key component in the delivery of major building and infrastructural projects in Co. Wexford during that time.
Garry Laffan, Fianna Fáil Glynn
Garry Laffan, a
Fianna Fáil candidate in the Wexford electoral district is an All-Ireland winning hurler, a former member of the Defence Forces and a carpenter by trade who completed a BSc in Energy Management
(Buildings) in 2016.
He lives in Glynn with his wife Catherine and two children and is a County GAA Board representative for Barntown GAA Club. His priority issues include mental health, roads, tourism, education, rural broadband, housing and planning. He would like to see investment in Curracloe beach and infrastructure to make it a top Irish destination; a new secondary school and a new Third Level Campus in Wexford town; investment in rural sewage treatment systems, and for new businesses in Wexford to be given rates incentives during the first three years.
Elaine Cole, Aontú Ballycogley
Elaine Cole is a former teacher, having gained her BA and Postgraduate Certificate in Education in the north.
In 2012 she left full time work to care for her children at home but continued to write part time on equality and ethics, including
Life Institute and
Cherish all the Children Equally. She moved back to Wexford, her home county, in 2015. Elaine is one of two Aontú candidates in County Wexford and believes strongly in the three pillars of Aontú: Life, Unity, Economic Justice. If elected she will work for the people of Wexford town to fight for lower rates, for mental health services, for local industry, small businesses and fair housing and opportunities. She says that if we vote in the same people we will get the same results.
Tony Walsh, People Before Profit Thomas Street, Wexford
Having been coopted onto Wexford
County Council to take the place of
Deirdre Wadding, who stepped down as a councillor late in
2017, Cllr Tony Walsh faces his first election campaign.
With a background in psychology, counselling and mental health, these are areas that Tony feels passionate about, along with housing.
He was driven to join People Before Profit following his studies in the area of mental health, and says he is ‘devastated’ by what he calls ‘ the serious levels of neglect’ in mental health services that exists in Wexford and has done a lot of work in this area. Similarly, he has invested a great amount of time in helping those battling homelessness. If elected, he vows to be a humanitarian voice within the council chamber.
Angela Reville, Fine Gael Bayview Drive, Wexford
The daughter of former councillor and Mayor of
Wexford Philomena
Roche, Angela
Reville previously contested the borough council elections back in 2004. Since that unsuccessful campaign, she has served as her mother’s director of elections and advisor during her 15 years in local politics, as well as serving former councillor Anna Fenlon.
Angela curently works for Minister Michael D’Arcy at his Wexford town office and was a pivotal member of his 2016 election team. Having grown up in Barntown, she moved to Bayview Drive in Wexford and is married to Killurin man Nigel Reville.
If elected, Ms Reville has vowed to focus on education, development of a third level campus at Ferrybank, tourism and securing investment for the creation of more social housing.
Jane Johnstone, Independent Baldwinstown
Jane Johnstone, a long time campaigner on behalf of families coping with disabilies, is running as an Independent candidate in the
Rosslare district.
A mother and a carer,
Jane fought a tough battle with the HSE to obtain services for her sons Evan and
Daniel. She was a South East Radio Overall Outstanding Achievement Award Winner in 2016 and in 2018, she was invited to sit on the cross-party Oireachtas Disability Group. She is a founding membersof Wexford Mental Health Warriors who campaign for improvements in CAMHS services. A qualified psychotherapist, she lives in Baldwinstown. She is concerned about issues facing rural communities. She sees the development of Rosslare Europort as a key to driving the local economy and has vowed to help rural indigenous businesses.
Jim Codd, Aontú Cleariestown
Aontú candidate
Jim Codd has been a secondary school teacher in the heart of the Rosslare LEA for the past quarter of a century. A strong supporter of
Irish culture, Jim introduced handball to Bridgetown College in the 1990s and was a crucial figure in the revamp of the Bridgetown Handball Club. Bridgetown had numerous winners and the largest juvenile membership in the country. He has been involved with many charitable organisations including the Simon Community, the Peter McVerry Trust and St Vincent de Paul. He is a member of the Bridgetown Historical Society, the Kathleen Browne Arts Festival Committee and the IFA.
As a father of three young children, Jim believes drastic action is needed to stop the total decline of Irish society.
Maura Bell, Labour Party John’s Road, Wexford
A first-time candidate,
Maura has been at the forefront of the
Wexford tourism industry for almost
20 years in her role as manager of the Irish
National Heritage
Park.
Married to Anthony, she has two grown-up children, Anna and
Clara.
Maura will be focusing on mental health, housing and employment, but says her campaign is really about the future development of Wexford and ensuring the county gets its fair share.
An ambassador for tourism in Wexford for many years, she believes we need to start telling our story better and to collaborate with everyone, not just hoteliers, but retailers too, as they are all part of the fabric of Wexford tourism.
Jim Moore, Fine Gael Kilmore Quay
A sitting councillor and former Mayor of
Wexford, Jim Moore has been a member of the Kilmore
Quay Community Development
Association for many years and is the former CEO of the National Parents
Council post-primary.
Married to Lucy, with two children, Sarah and Jamie, Cllr Moore is also the Chairperson of the WWETB.
The Fine Gael councillor intends to focus primarily on getting Wexford people back to work should he be elected, and to nurture and promote local industries like fishing, farming, tourism and local businesses.
He will also focus on education and enterprise, with plans for the growing needs of young people in schools and colleges chief among his concerns.
Paul Codd, Fine Gael Taghmon
Fine Gael candidate
Paul Codd, a selfemployed welder/ fabricator of Dungeer,
Taghmon, is standing in Rosslare LEA, following in the footsteps of his late father, Pat Codd, the well-known Wexford councillor. From a farming background, he is on the board of
Taghmon Action Group and is involved in the local community, teaching weekly jive dance classes and calling out bingo numbers on a Tuesday night.
He is an U.17’s mentor in hurling and football with Taghmon Camross GAA and has a black belt in Kung Fu.
He is no stranger to the hustings, having canvassed from a young age with his dad and other Fine Gael candidates in local and general elections. Among this priority issues are care of the older generation and facilities for young people.
John Hegarty, Fine Gael Crosstown, Wexford
Former Wexford footballer, John Hegarty is running for Fine Gael in the Wexford district for the first time having previously represented Gorey. During his time on Wexford
County Council he has spearheaded projects which promote Wexford both nationally and internationally. As
Council Chairman, his focus was on developing tourism and economic development, with considerable success, attracting American College, Georgia Southern University to set up a Wexford campus and the 75 American high tech jobs recently announced for Wexford. He has supported groups to develop playgrounds, sports and community facilities all over Wexford. His priorities include school places, improved housing, leisure and community facilities and quality jobs. John is married with four young children and is Deputy Principal of Wexford CBS.
Mick Roche, Sinn Féin Bridgetown
A firm believer in community spirit being a vital asset in the fight to save rural Ireland, Cllr
Mick Roche has been a founding member of many local groups including the South
East Boxing Club, Bridgetown Mens
Shed and Bridgetown
Community
Development Group.
He has been a mentor in the local Youth Club in the past, aswell as being extremely active in sports having played football and hurling with St Fintans GAA Club, handball, darts and pool. Since becoming an elected rep, Mick has highlighted the poor water quality from the Fardystown Public Scheme, the unfairness of low paid employment schemes and zero hour contracts, the degradation of the Kilmore Quay fishing industry, the need for investment in Rossare Europort and the mental health and housing emergencies.
Lisa McDonald, Fianna Fáil Murrintown
Sitting Fianna Fail councillor Lisa
McDonald is a native of Piercestown, living in Murrintown who is running in the
Rosslare electoral district. Educated in Broadway national school, the Presentation secondary school and
University College
Dublin, she runs a solicitor’s practice on Rowe Street in Wexford town. Lisa was elected to Wexford County Council in 2004. She contested the general election in 2007, receiving 6,400 first preference votes. She served in Seanad Éireann from 2007 to 2011 after which she took a sabbatical from politics to build her business and rear her young children. She was co-opted onto Wexford County Council in July 2016. Among her priority issues are the retention of vital rural services, broadband, rural housing, agriculture and fisheries, tourism and Rosslare Europort.
Ger Carthy, Independent Our Lady’s Island
Having topped the poll last time out in the local elections, Cllr
Ger Carthy has been a sitting councillor since 2014.
Steeped in political tradition, the father of three followed his own father Leo Carthy into politics, a man who served for nearly half a century.
An advanced paramedic with the National Ambulance Service, Cllr Carthy has been actively involved in establishing first responders groups around the district and is also heavily involved with community organisations like Marine Watch.
If elected, Cllr Carthy’s priorities will be protecting services at Wexford General Hospital, providing support for parents through the current shortage of secondary school places; tourism, housing, rural committees, job creation and promoting growth and investment at Rosslare Europort.
Frank Staples, Fine Gael Ballycogley
Involved in Fine Gael for over 25 years,
Cllr Staples has been director of elections at local, Dáil and
European levels and has held officerships at district and constituency level.
He lives in the parish of Ballymore/
Mayglass with wife
Trish and their sons and has been involved in the local All Black’s Soccer Club for a number of years. As someone who has spoke publically about his own battles with depression, Cllr Staples is determined to fight for the provision of services for Wexford people suffering from mental health issues.
Heavily involved in his local community, the former mayor wants to make rural communities a better place to live and to give a voice to, and support, struggling farmers throughout the county.
Michael Wallace, Fianna Fáil Wellingtonbridge
A long-term Fianna
Fáil member and chairperson of the
Droichead Eoin
Cumann, publican
Michael Wallace is to contest the 2019 elections in the
Rosslare District.
A father of three and grandfather to three
Michael owns and runs the Tír na nÓg pub and restaurant in Wellingtonbridge along with his wife Teresa and is also the current chairman of the County Wexford Vintners Association.
A stalwart of the GAA at club, district and county levels, at various points in the past 30 years he has served as chairman, secretary, treasurer and county board rep for Bannow/ Ballymitty GAA Club.
A big focus for Michael is the power of community and he says that disability issues, housing, roads and tourism also feature among his key issues.