A DONEGAL councillor has revealed he is taking some time away from his role on doctor’s advise due to anxiety.
The Castlefinn man was selected by Sinn Féin in 2013 to replace Cllr Cora Harvey on Donegal County Council. A local musician, Cllr Gary Doherty has a degree in politics.
In a post on his own social media, Cllr Doherty said things had “come to a head” for him.
“I’ve been advised by my GP to take a wee bit of time off work due to issues I have been having with stress/anxiety.
“I’ve been struggling for a while and over the last few weeks things have come to a head and it was all getting too much for me.”
The Lifford-Stranorlar MD councillor said he agonised about whether to put the post on Facebook.
“But I realised the people I represent deserved to know if I had to take a wee bit of time out.”
He reassured his constituents that he was “getting the help” he needed and that he would be “fighting fit and raring to go in no time again”.
He said: “I love nothing more than representing the people of Donegal and I fully intend to be doing that again as soon as possible.”
In July, Cllr Doherty’s phone was allegedly stolen during a special meeting of Donegal County Council in Letterkenny.
Independent Cllr Frank McBrearty allegedly took the phone from Cllr Doherty’s hands during an adjournment of the meeting.
When the meeting resumed, and Cllr McBrearty was asked to leave under standing orders, he appeared to leave with the phone.
Gardai were called and the alleged incident was referred to them.
Speaking afterwards, Cllr Doherty said: “Politics should be about co-operation, not confrontation. I have a job to do as an elected representative and this won’t distract me from my duties.”He thanked the public for their support.
Cllr Doherty was one of three party candidates to contest the General Election in 2016, alongside Deputies Pearse Doherty and Pádraig MacLochlainn.
However, he was eliminated on the seventh count in what turned out to be a tense battle which saw sitting TD Pádraig MacLochlainn lose his seat, having narrowly missed out to Independent TD Thomas Pringle.
Speaking afterwards Deputy Pearse Doherty admitted that Sinn Féin may have “mismanaged” its General Election vote in Donegal.
Cllr Doherty has also previously spoken about the loss of his father to suicide.
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