Healy is selected to run in new Sligo/Drumcliffe area
THE Sinn Fein election convention for the new Sligo/Drumcliffe five seat local election area was held in the Teeling Centre, Collooney on Thursday night and sitting Councillor Thomas Healy was selected to contest the Local Elections in May.
Cllr Healy said: “This is a great honour for me and a vindication of the work I have done over the past five years. I want to thank party members and supporters who travelled from throughout the constituency in order to show their support for Sinn Féin and for myself at this convention. This is an exciting and challenging election campaign in prospect. While in 2014 I had a very strong running mate in Cllr Sean MacManus this time I am on my own, in a smaller area and with only five seats instead of ten. I am expecting a large field of candidates including a number of strong sitting Councillors to compete against, nevertheless I am up for the challenge of both retaining the seat and on building the vote for Sinn Féin,” he said.
“This is a largely rural constituency of towns and small villages, all of whom are suffering from the same problems affecting all of rural Ireland. I have spent the past five years fighting to retain and build services in rural Ireland to keep it open and viable for strong prosperous communities here.
“Over the coming five months I intend to get up every road and byroad in the constituency to meet people and outline the service I want to continue to provide for them. This is not just about retaining a seat, it is about the people having the opportunity to choose their voice, and I am asking not to just be judged on what I said but on what I have done,” he added.