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Sinn Féin take 14 seats on Newry and Mourne District Council

Sinn Féin take 14 seats on Newry and Mourne District Council

After months of preparation and campaigning Sinn Féin is celebrating a record return of 14 councillors to Newry and Mourne Council. This remarkable increase of two seats makes Newry and Mourne one of 9 councils across the north where Sinn Féin is the largest party.

Sinn Féin gained a seat in the Mournes with Sean Doran, and Peter Kearney won seat in the Crotlieve area giving Sinn Féin an historic third seat in the area. Peter will join Mick Murphy and poll topper Mickey Ruane in representing the people of Crotlieve in Monaghan row.

In Newry town the party returned three candidates with newcomer Valerie Harte replacing the excellent Marion O'Reilly. Poll topper Charlie Casey was joined by Sinn Féin's longest standing councilor in Newry and Mourne, Brendan Curran, to complete the Sinn Féin team.

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.

"I am looking forward to getting on with the challenges ahead and facing the future with my new colleagues on council be they fellow Sinn Féin members or any other representatives. Our party is interested in delivering and that is what we will focus on in Council."