Queenan will run despite FF snub
SLIGO County Councillor Joe Queenen has said he is disappointed with Fianna Fáil Headquarters after he has not been added to the ticket ahead of next year’s Local Elections.
The Enniscrone-based councillor who was the subject of an RTE Investigates programme three years ago, told The Sligo Champion that it was ‘emotional’ to receive a letter informing him of the party’s decision.
“I’ve been involved with Fianna Fáil 40 years, since Ógra,” said the councillor, who was before the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO), in relation to the RTE programme.
Though the hearings took place in September, a decision on Cllr Queenen’s hearing will not be given any time soon.
As Monaghan councillor Hugh McElvaney, who also featured in the programme, has mounted a High Court challenge against the national broadcaster, no decision on either hearing can be made until that is decided upon.
“I feel frustrated, the hearing was meant to happen last April and it wasn’t heard till September. I could have gone to the High Court but I want it finished,” said Queenen, who is confident that the hearing will show he was ‘ hard done by’.
“I know I shouldn’t have been in that situation but I went in there to get jobs set up, I was looking for nothing else.”
The councillor said though his preferred party would be Fianna Fáil, he believes he can stand as an Independent candidate.
“I’ ll stand on my own record and represent the issues of rural Sligo. I have to believe in my own ability.” In addressing the lack of support at national level within the party, Cllr Queenen said he believed there was a ‘disconnect’ not only in Fianna Fáil, but with Government.
“I’ve no support from Dublin, but great support locally. The national media are dictating the political agenda,” he concluded.
I WILL STAND ON MY OWN RECORD AND REPRESENT THE ISSUES OF RURAL SLIGO.