Departure of Dearey will be sorely felt

WARM tributes were paid to former councillor Harry Todd who recently passed away at the recent meeting of Dundalk Municipal Area,

The Sinn Fein member represented the party on the council for nine years from 2007 when he was co-opted onto Dundalk Town Council until it was abolished in 2016, during which time he was very vocal in relation to housing matters.

He strongly represented the Coxes Demesne area and was a strong trade union representative during his time in the brewery.

Elsewhere we have learned this week with a little surprise that Mark Dearey is to step out of politics at the upcoming local elections.

The Green Party member has been a councillor for fifteen years and during that time he has also contested General Elections on a number of occasions and had a spell as a Senator during the Fianna Fail/Green Party coalition.

A community activist prior to his first election, Mark Dearey was already well known locally as one of four plaintiffs in the campaign and legal action against Sellafield.

Always a well prepared councillor, he was one of the voices of reason in the council chamber and it was a mark of the esteem in which he was held, that he had friends and allies right across the political spectrum.

Along with the expected retirement of Peter Savage who has served on Louth County Council for over forty years, their absence from the next council will be felt.

Both departures, alongside Sinn Fein’s Jim Loughran, who is also retiring from the Dundalk Carlingford electoral area will encourage many new candidates to that particular race.