PROSPECTS of a pre-Christmas General Election may have dissipated but the main political parties in Limerick remain on a full-war footing, with selection conventions swinging into action.
Some of the parties have already had their conventions, with others gearing up for it.
Former Finance Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan this week nominated and endorsed Senator Maria Byrne to contest the next election for Fine Gael in Limerick City.
She will be joined on the ticket by Senator Kieran O’Donnell who narrowly lost his seat in the 2016 election.
Minister Noonan said “he was delighted to propose Senator Byrne to contest the next General Election after many years of her late father Bobby and herself proposing me”
Senator Byrne said “77,185 people are currently at work in Limerick. I want to ensure continued job creation for Limerick City and the continuation of the reduction of the tax burden on hard-working families in Limerick City”
“I want to ensure that Infrastructural projects like the Northern Distributor Road and the M20 come to fruition and the Opera Centre development project is delivered on”.
Meanwhile, the Limerick City Constituency Council of the Labour Party will hold its selection convention tonight (Thursday) in the Kilmurry Lodge Hotel, Castletroy.
The convention will be chaired by Deputy Alan Kelly and it is understood that sitting TD and former Minister, Jan O’Sullivan, will be the only nominee.
Social Democrats party chairperson Sarah Jane Hennelly was the first Limerick candidate to be selected. A community development worker in the city, she contested the 2016 General Election and is confident that the party’s growing profile will translate into an improved performance at the polls.
The Solidarity Party in Limerick this week selected Limerick councillor Cian Prendiville as their candidate.
Cllr Prendiville says the current political instability and the whistleblower scandal highlights the need for a new left wing alliance.
“Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour have always argued that people should vote for them ‘for stability’. This has now been shown to be a complete lie. These right-wing parties are totally incapable of providing stable jobs and stable housing or a stable health service. They are only capable of stumbling from crisis to crisis and putting on a ‘Punch and Judy’ show that more and more people are fed up of,” he declared.
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Fein have yet to announce when their conventions will be.
