By Alan Finn
Six presidential hopefuls addressed Sligo County Council yesterday (Wednesday).
Peter Casey, Patrick Feeney, John Groarke, Kevin Sharkey, Gemma O’Doherty and Sarah Louise Mulligan all spoke to a packed Council chamber in their bids to secure a nomination.
Businessman Sean Gallagher, who already has enough nominations to run, was also in attendance.
Fianna Fail Councillor Keith Henry outlined prior to the meeting that he intended to nominate Gallagher, but the former Dragon’s Den star stressed that he was not seeking further nominations and suggested that they instead advance other candidates.
The sentiment was not warmly received by Kevin Sharkey however, who stated he was surprised to see Gallagher in attendance.
“That stinks a bit,” he said, before adding “that’s politics, I know how it works.”
However, Sean Gallagher is to be proposed for a nomination, along with Peter Casey at a special meeting on Monday, September 24.
The special meeting was almost adjourned midway through speeches when Cllr Hubert Keaney requested that an individual in the public gallery stop recording proceedings and insisted that any footage recorded must not appear on social media.
Cllr Keaney stated that he does not recall this ever occuring at the council chamber before and Cathaoirleach Cllr Martin Baker agreed and warned the individual that they must leave immediately if they did not cease recording.
Each candidate was allocated a ten minute window to address the chamber, with questions from Councillors being withheld until all speeches had concluded.
For more from the special meeting and details on what the candidates had to say, this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper. In shops now.
