Social Democrats boost election hopes, as FG reveal East Meath candidates

The Social Democrats continue to build a strong base in Meath with the recent selection of four candidates who will contest seats in the Trim, Navan, Ashbourne and Laytown-Bettystown Municipal Districts in the local elections in May.

Ronan Moore has recently been selected to go forward in Trim Municipal District. He joins Amy McGrath who will contest Navan, Paul Nolan in Ashbourne and Rob Corr in Laytown-Bettystown.
Moore is a community activist and campaigner, as well as an English and history teacher in Navan and author of the ‘Irishology’ series of books. In 2018, he successfully called for the cap on enrolment in Trim Educate Together National School to be lifted, and played a key role in canvassing for Repeal across Meath.

Amy McGrath is passionate about fairness and building a society that promotes equality of opportunity. She campaigned for Repeal of the 8th Amendment, and currently works with multiple volunteer organisations.
Paul Nolan has lived in Ashbourne for 20 years with his wife Sandra and son Conor. Paul is a long-time activist and volunteer in his local community; he stood as an independent candidate in the last local elections and was involved in the Right2Water campaign. Paul played football from schoolboys to senior level; he played for Tolka Rovers in the early 2000s and now volunteers to help manage local teams. Paul is employed as a welder and steel fabricator in Dunboyne.

Over last few years Rob Corr has experienced the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger, while getting married, having two children, and buying a home in Laytown just before the crash in 2008.  He is an active member of the east Meath community, particularly in the area of sports. Most of his working life has been in the disability and sports sectors, and he is currently working with St Michael’s House as direct support worker where he advocates on behalf of clients who have an intellectual disability.

*********

^{Dylan Heavey, Deputy Fergus O’Dowd, Cllr Paddy Meade, Minister Helen McEntee, Cllr Sharon Tolan, Cllr Noel French.}

Sitting councillors Paddy Meade and Sharon Tolan have been selected by Fine Gael to run in the local elections in May, in the Laytown-Bettystown Municipal Area. This district includes the coastal area of Meath, along with Duleek, Slane village and parts of North Meath including Lobinstown.　
After the convention, Meath East TD, Helen McEntee, said she was delighted that the Fine Gael members of the area had endorsed the sitting councillors to seek another term on Meath County Council.　

“They are two incredibly hard working councillors for their own local communities and the entire municipal area that they represent,” she stated.　
“I also want to wish Young Fine Gael member Dylan Heavey from Duleek, who contested the selection convention but was not selected, well for the future, as well as Declan O’Neill who was nominated to the convention but did not contest,” stated the Minister for European Affairs.
Louth TD Fergus O’Dowd attended the convention, which was chaired by Cllr Noel French from Trim.

****************

Fianna Fail has added Ratoath's Deirdre Geraghty-Smith to the party ticket for the local elections in the Ratoath Local Electoral Area.
She joins Cllr Damien O'Reilly, who was recently selected as the Fianna Fail candidate for the area at the local selection convention.

Geraghty Smith has already been selected to contest the next general election in Meath East for Fianna Fail, having been selected along with sitting TD, Thomas Byrne.
She said: “I'm honoured to have been selected to contest the local elections in May of this year. I am passionate about community involvement and have been working in various community and charity activities in Meath for more than ten years.  

“Some of my priorities include working on behalf of commuters, where as a daily commuter myself for over 15 years I am at the coal face in terms of the daily struggle with chronic traffic congestion and inadequate public transport links. I am seeking the urgent delivery of the Dunshaughlin train-line extension to provide options for Meath commuters and to improve the quality of commuters’ lives. Other issues which I will be immediately prioritising include tackling crime and anti-social behaviour - which has spiked significantly in recent months”  

***********

Midlands North East MEP Marian Harkin is the only Irish MEP nominated for MEP of the year. The nominations  were unveiled on Wednesday.
Ms Harkin is one of three nominees for the MEP of the Year covering Economic and Monetary Affairs, Taxation and Budget.  
“I am especially pleased because I have been nominated by the World Council of Credit Unions for my work over many years in protecting the interests of credit unions and helping to ensure that European economic legislation properly and fairly considers the particular needs of credit unions.
“As a founding member, and co-chair of the Credit Union Interest Group in the European Parliament, I have always fully supported the ethos of the credit unions which are member owned, not for profit financial institutions”, she said.