Sinn Féin to launch 'Mayo Manifesto for Change' in Castlebar

Sinn Féin's two General Election candidates in Mayo will launch the party's 'Mayo Manifesto for Change' this Friday in Castlebar.

Sitting TD Rose Conway-Walsh and Charlestown-based councillor Gerry Murray will launch the Sinn Féin election manifesto for Mayo in the TF Royal Hotel in Castlebar on Friday, November 15.

In a joint message both Deputy Conway-Walsh and Cllr Murray stated they are ready to stand up for Mayo and invest in health, housing, transport and infrastructure.

“Serving the people of Mayo has been a profound honour for both of us. As public representatives, we’ve each had the privilege of representing our communities as councillors, and Rose as a seanadóir and, for the past four years, as a TD.

“Throughout these roles, we’ve been proud to stand up for Mayo, advocating tirelessly on behalf of our people, and striving to address the issues that matter most to you. We have a vision for the future of Mayo. One that serves the needs of all our people. A county that needs much greater investment in our key public services - Health, Housing, Transport, and Infrastructure. We will lead the change in Mayo,” the two candidates stated.

Rose Conway-Walsh who is based in Erris became the first Sinn Féin candidate in Mayo to win a Dáil seat in 97 years when she was elected on the first count in 2020 with 14,633 first preference votes.

In the 2020 General Election, Sinn Féin ran only one candidate with many political commentators stating that a second seat was up for grabs if they ran a second candidate.

This year, Cllr Murray was added to the ticket with the party hoping that they will get a bounce during the election to take the fifth and final seat.

Cllr Murray who was the only Mayo Sinn Féin candidate to win a seat during the local elections in June admitted that running a second candidate is a gamble but one they are willing to take.

“When we embarked on the election campaign in 2020 we were at 14 percent and now we are embarking on a campaign at 18 percent. The fear is that there could be a bounce in the course of the election and we won't have enough candidates in place to take advantage of it. We don't want a repeat of last time around.

“Of course every strategy is a gamble but at the same time the party would not put a seat at risk if they did not think there was a swing towards us,” he said.