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Sinn Féin take 6 seats on Armagh City & District Council

There were jubilant scenes in the Orchard leisure centre on Monday 9th May as counting progressed for seats on Armagh City & District Council.

After months of preparation and campaigning Sinn Féin is celebrating a record return of 6 councillors to Armagh City & District Council. This remarkable achievement sees Sinn Féin increase its representation in Armagh City with new candidate Roy McCartney securing a third seat in this ward.

The election of Mr McCartney, a long time community activist, means that for the first time ever there are three Sinn Féin representatives out of six in the ward of Armagh City.

Speaking after his election Councillor McCartney said, "I wish to firstly thank all those who voted for me and my party. It is wonderful to know that I now have a mandate to build upon the hard work carried out over the years by my colleagues in the City Cathy Rafferty and Noel Sheridan."

It was also a first campaign for successful candidate Gerard Paul White who retained the Sinn Féin seat in Orchard formerly inhabited by outgoing councillor Paul Corrigan. Gerard Paul paid tribute to his predecessor saying, "I am delighted to have been elected by the people of the Orchard and I hope that I will continue to represent them as ably as Paul did over the past number of years. I also wish to thank my campaign team who gave everything they could to ensure that Sinn Féin held this seat."

In Crossmore the party returned its two sitting councillors Mary Doyle and Darren McNally bringing to six the total number of Sinn Féin councillors across the district.

In Slieve Gullion, where a staggering 80% of the electorate voted Sinn Féin, there was no change as Sinn Féin sitting councillors Terry Hearty, Colman Burns, Anthony Flynn and Packie McDonald comfortably holding their four seats while newcomer Padra McNamee pushed all the way for a fifth Sinn Féin seat in the area. There is no doubt with the impact he made that the party will be looking for that fifth seat next time around.

In the Few area Turlough Murphy, Pat McGinn and Jimmy McCreesh were all easily reelected, a testament to their hard work over the last number of years.

Sinn Féin council group leader Jimmy McCreesh made the following remarks about the outcome of the election,

"On the whole we were delighted with the way the election campaign came together and to increase our number of seats by two is remarkable. This demonstrates that the Sinn Féin strategy and political direction is endorsed by the majority of the people in this district and also that Sinn Féin activists continue to do the work on the ground.

"While our colleague Marian O'Reilly will be a huge miss to our team both in terms of her experience and knowledge built up over many years of activism, we must now look to the future and ensure that Newry council delivers for the citizens of Newry & Mourne."