Green Party selects three candidates to contest local elections in Meath

The Green Party is to run three candidates in Meath in this year's local election in the Navan, Ratoath and Laytown/Bettystown Municpal Districts.

Navan GP Seamus McMenamin, who previously contested the local election in 2019 and the General Election in 2016 and 2020, is joined by newcomers Ruadháin Bonham, a student in DCU, and media producer Cathal Mac Reamoinn.

“We’re a good mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm,” said Seamus McMenamin, who came eighth in the seven-seater Navan area in 2019.

“The Green Party has been highly effective in government on issues like reducing public transport costs and getting the rail link to Navan approved. Childcare costs are down and there’s been great strides in retrofitting houses. However, Meath needs representation at the local level to ensure that Green Party initiatives are implemented by the County Council.”

At 22, Ruadháin Bonham is one of the younger candidates contesting the local elections. A native of Dunboyne, he went to Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, and St Peter’s College, and is now studying economics, politics, and law at DCU.

“I value local community groups and businesses,” he said. “I was an instructor at the Golden Tiger Academy in Dunboyne, and I played music in the Dunboyne Consort. I am currently representing Meath on the Shared Island Youth Forum, discussing collaboration between North and South for a better future on the Island of Ireland.”

Cathal Mac Reamoinn is focusing his campaign in Laytown-Bettystown on safer roads, better water quality, and creating a carbon-neutral constituency.

“With a background in Film and Television, I’ve explored every corner of Ireland and the issues that concern people,” he said. “I have lived those concerns and experienced both the positive and negative sides of the Irish systems. I grew up, assisting my parents with a family-run business helping children with additional needs.”