Long-serving FF councillor to stand down

Veteran Fianna Fail councillor and former TD Michael Lynch indicated this week that he will not seek re-election in June. Cllr Lynch, who announced his decision on Monday, said that after speaking to his family over the weekend, he decided to retire for personal reasons. The Oldcastle councillor said it was purely a personal decision and he had not been influenced by anything happening nationally. Two weeks ago, Cllr Lynch had indicated that he was making himself unavailable for candidate and councillor interviews being conducted by Fianna Fail headquarters, saying candidates for the June local elections should be chosen by convention and not by a committee in Mount Street. Cllr Lynch was first elected to Meath County Council in 1967 and has been re-elected every election since and served as chairman in 1992/"93. He was elected to the Dail in 1982 but lost his seat in the next general election later that year and was elected to the Seanad where he served until he was elected a TD again in 1987 for another term. Meanwhile Navan councillor, Tommy Reilly, has hit out at recent rumours that he is not standing for election to Navan Town Council. 'I want to make it very clear that I will definitely be a candidate in the town council elections and I am refuting any claims that I won"t be standing,' he said.