Ten candidates attend election public meeting in Westport

QUESTIONS ANSWERED Some of the West Mayo Municipal District candidates at the top table during the WRFM public meeting in the Wyatt Hotel. From left: Caroline Fitzgerald (Green Party), Tereasa McGuire (Fine Gael) and Joan Geraghty (Fianna FΡil).


Ten candidates attend election public meeting in Westport

WRFM hopes to facilitate regular meetings to debate council issues

Michael Duffy

AHEAD of the 2014 local election this Friday, ten of the 17 candidates in the West Mayo Municipal District attended a public meeting in Westport on Monday night to debate some of the contentious issues in the town.
The meeting was facilitated by Westport community radio station WRFM and was held in the Wyatt Hotel. The debate was moderated by Tommy Morahan with assistance by Chris Duffy.
The ten candidates in attendance were Tommie Joe Jennings, Brendan Mulroy and Joan Geraghty of Fianna FΡil, Rose Conway-Walsh of Sinn Féin, Tereasa McGuire of Fine Gael, Caroline Fitzgerald of the Green Party and the Independent candidates Joe Lavelle, Christy Hyland, Michael O’Donnell, Michael Holmes.
The candidates were questioned on many of the issues by the public in attendance, particularly those affecting the people of Westport town itself. There was a debate on the Bank of Ireland garden, the MacBride Home, job creation, the greenway and the abolition of the town council in Westport. The South West Mayo Development Company were also in attendance at the meeting and appealed to the candidates to make sure plans to change the role of the company in community development were not pushed through at council level.
The candidates were in support of a proposal put forward by WRFM that a public forum be held four times a year in order to fill the vacuum left due to the abolition of the town council. WRFM would like to thank all who attended, particularly the candidates for their co-operation.