By Róise Collins
POLITICAL parties across the county are ramping up preparations for the upcoming local elections which are set to take place next June.
With 37 seats up for grabs within Donegal County Council, four confirmed candidates have already thrown their hat in the ring.
Amongst those who have announced they will be stepping forward are three Sinn Féin candidates. In the Letterkenny Electoral Area both Gerry McMonagle and Sandra Haughey have been selected.
In the Milford Electoral Area Maria Doherty has been selected, the Carrigart native will be the only Sinn Féín candidate running in the area.
Sinn Féin, who currently have 10 sitting councillors across Donegal, have confirmed that they will be running 16 or more candidates in all five of the county’s Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) in the upcoming election.
Speaking to the Donegal News a spokesperson said the party’s candidate selection process will be ongoing until February, 2024.
Fine Gael, who currently have four sitting councillors across the county, have not yet confirmed how many candidates they will run next June.
However, Secretary Doreen Sheridan Kennedy revealed to the Donegal News that their strategy groups have been very busy meeting for the last five years and that plans are well underway with the party AGM to take place in early November.
Ms Sheridan confirmed that the candidate selection conventions for both Lifford-Stranorlar MD and Letterkenny MD are to be held before the end of the month.
She added that dates for further selection conventions across the county are also in the works and that the party hope to have these concluded before Christmas.
Fianna Fáil currently has the largest number of sitting councillors in Donegal with 12 representatives across the county.
Despite preparations being well underway, Letterkenny based councillor Donal Coyle said that the number of Fianna Fáil candidates running in the upcoming local elections is still to be confirmed as the party has not yet held their candidate selection convention.
The Green Party who has no current sitting councillors in the county are currently working on finalising their candidate selection ahead of the local elections.
Green Party Local Area Representative Michael White has confirmed that the party will be running at least three candidates in the Letterkenny, Carndonagh and Buncrana LEAs.
The party are also discussing the possibility of running further candidates across the county but this has yet to be confirmed.
Aontú, who also have no current sitting councillors in Donegal, will be fielding at least one candidate in June, with Letterkenny native Mary T Sweeney being confirmed as a candidate at the party’s recent Ard Fhéis.
Ms Sweeney told the Donegal News that the party may be running further candidates across the county, once they become ratified. However she gave no indication as to how many potential candidates there is.
Meanwhile the newly established 100% Redress Party is to hold a public meeting in Letterkenny as it moves forward with selecting its election candidates.
The political party, established by mica campaigners, received the approval of Ireland’s Registrar of Political Parties last month to contest elections.
The party is expected to field candidates in local and Dáil elections.
An information evening will take place in Station House Hotel, Letterkenny, on Monday, November 6 at 7.30pm to 9.30pm. It will be one of a series of meetings around the county, with another taking place in Villa Rose Hotel, Ballybofey, the following evening at the same time.
In Inishowen, meetings will be held in Colgan Hall, Carndonagh, on Wednesday, November 8 at 7.30pm to 9.30pm and Buncrana Youth and Community Centre in Buncrana the following evening at the same time.
A spokesperson told the Donegal News what can be expected at the forthcoming meetings.
“We are letting people know we’re looking to form Cumanns and we will be selecting candidates in the foreseeable future.”
While the party has said the initial focus will be on mica, the party may use its ‘redress’ concept to tackle a number of issues.
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