FF set to claim county Chair

 

Fianna Fail, who have a majority sitting on Cavan County Council following the local election, are expected to claim the role of Cathaoirleach for one of its members for the coming year.

The decision will be made at the upcoming local authority AGM, which takes place tomorrow afternoon, Friday, June 7.

It will be the first formal meeting of the new look body of elected members, however the first official working meeting will not take place until June 19.

Fianna Fail have eight sitting members on the new Council, Fine Gael have seven, and there are three others including one non-party.

The Anglo-Celt understands that discussions have taken place on a number of occasions in order to strike an accord on who will be titled Cavan's First Citizen, and who will served as Vice Chair.

The last Cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council was Fine Gael's Madeleine Argue.

The last election saw Fine Gael's Trevor Smith top the poll, however from a Fianna Fail perspective Mullagh's Shane P O'Reilly earned the highest number of first preference votes.

Both are in the Ballyjamesduff area, and were elected in the first count.

Cllr O'Reilly, who served as Cathaoirleach in 2014, was just one vote short of tying with Aontú's Bailieborough-Cootehill candidate, Sarah O'Reilly.

She was co-opted as a Fianna Fail candidate in place of Niamh Smyth TD, but left the party in acrimonious circumstances last year citing a massive discord between grassroot membership and party headquarters.

The AGM will serve as the first taste of political life in Cavan for several new Councillors. They include Aiden Fitzpatrick (FF) from Cootehill, Craig Lovett (FF) from Kilnaleck, Cllr Smith (FG) from Ballyjamesduff, in place of his retired father Paddy Smith, TP O'Reilly (FG) from Virginia, and Brendan Fay (Ind) from Belturbet.

Returning to the Council is Patricia Walsh (FF), who lost her seat in 2014, but fought to regain it in the 2019 election and did so after earning more than 1,000 first preference votes. There were emotional scenes when word of her election was announced in Count 6.

There will be a major change also for the Sinn Féin who lost three elected members from the last council, and an almost 50 per cent drop in support for the party in some areas. They included Damien Brady from Ballyconnell, Noel Connell from Mountnugent, and Daniel Downey from Cavan Town, who was co-opted to when former Councillor Eugene Greenan retired.