Election briefs

From the poll topper Once again, Fine Gael"s Maura Maguire Lynch topped the poll in the Belturbet electoral area. Her 1,324 first preferences votes, topped only in the county by Sinn Féin"s Charlie Boylan, was an emphatic endorsement of Cllr. Maguire Lynch"s work as an effective local elected representative. She also carries on a long family tradition in local politics in that she is the third member of her family to serve on Cavan County Council. Her late father was first elected in the 1960s and served up until in his death when he was succeeded by his wife, Mary and when she decided to step down Maura succeeded her. This is Maura"s third county council election and she has now topped the poll on two occasions. 'I start the campaign the day after I am elected. I work for all political persuasions,' she says. Not good enough - Feeley The poll topper for the Fianna Fáil party in the Belturbet electoral area, John Paul Feeley, has said that Fianna Fáil"s performance in the local elections across the country was 'not good enough' and the party needs to address the situation. Thanking voters for their support, Cllr. Feeley admitted he was relieved to be returned in his first election, having being co-opted onto his father"s seat a couple of years ago. 'In my own immediate area, I got a huge cross party vote. I think a lot of people in the very farthest part of west Cavan are very anxious to have a representative on Cavan County Council and they voted accordingly. A lot of credit has to go to them for putting community ahead of party interests,' he said. 'But I fought a hard campaign. We went out, we canvassed for the last eight weeks and I"ve been working hard for the last two years,' added Cllr. Feeley. Reflecting on the performance of the party nationally in the elections, Cllr. Feeley said: 'They need to very carefully reflect on the results that we"re getting around the country, I know we"re doing better possibly than was expected but it"s still not good enough for this party to be where it is and we really do need to look at what we"re doing at a national level.' In terms of economic policies and job creation, Cllr. Feeley added: 'I think that the Government are doing quite a lot across a number of areas. I think the Government"s major problem is communication and I think that"s something that they need to address from the top down.' Council"s annual meeting The annual meeting of Cavan County Council will take place this Friday, June 19, at which the new Cathaoirleach will first be elected by the members. Following that, Cavan County Council will make its appointments to bodies including the County Cavan Vocational Education Committee (VEC), Regional Health Forum Dublin North East, the chairs of five Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs) the County Enterprise Board and the Border Regional Authority among others.