68 bidding to win seat in new council

30 April 2014

NOMINATIONS have closed and the campaign to return 41 councillors to the new Newry, Mourne and Down Council is off and running.

Only 68 runners have declared to contest seats in the Downpatrick, Rowallane, Slieve Croob, Mournes, Crotlieve, Slieve Gullion and Newry areas.

The final outcome of the May 22 election is the toughest to call in decades, but it’s being predicted that Sinn Fein will be the largest party once all the votes have been counted.

Newry and Mourne and Down Councils are merging to form one of 11 new super councils in Northern Ireland which are being created as a result of sweeping local government reform.

No one quite knows how what promises to be an intriguing election is going to pan out, especially the main parties which have been reluctant to field too many candidates in the seven electoral areas for fear of splitting the vote and, more crucially, losing seats which traditionally were safe bets.

What is clear is that the area’s political landscape will change dramatically when the new council comes into being in April next year.

Locally, SDLP heavyweights Eamonn O’Neill, Carmel O’Boyle, John Doris, Patsy Toman, Anne McAleenan and Maria McCarthy are not running, while veteran DUP councillor William Dick is not contesting the election.

The vast majority of the election candidates had declared long before last night’s official cut-off time at 6pm, but the SDLP sprung a surprise late yesterday afternoon when the party confirmed it had selected former Newcastle Chamber of Commerce president, Audrey Byrne, to contest a seat in Slieve Croob. For the first time, NI21 and the TUV are fielding candidates locally in next month’s election.

In Downpatrick, statistics would suggest the SDLP’s Dermot Curran, Colin McGrath and Gareth Sharvin are likely to be elected alongside Sinn Fein’s Éamonn Mac Con Midhe. The battle for the fifth seat is likely to be between Naomi Bailie, who is replacing Liam Johnston, for Sinn Fein, and sitting independent councillor, Cadogan Enright.

The UUP’s Graham Furey — who failed to secure a seat for the party in the Rowallane area in 2011 — and the DUP’s Yvonne Moore are unlikely to secure a seat in Downpatrick.

Rowallane, which now includes the Ballynahinch electoral area, promises to be one of the most interesting battlegrounds.

An intense battle lies ahead for the candidates, with the DUP’s Billy Walker and Harry Harvey and the UUP’s Robert Burgess and Walter Lyons up against a TUV opponent for the first time in a local government election in the shape of Philip Hamilton.

Ballynahinch Independent councillor, Mickey Coogan, has added his name to the Rowallane shake-up alongside NI21’s Alister Straney, Alliance’s Patrick Brown McAvoy and Sinn Fein’s Eddie Hughes.

Terry Andrews — elected on an Independent ticket in 2011 — will be flying the flag for the SDLP after recently being approached by senior party officials to return to the fold after he left three years ago when overlooked to contest the last council election. The party’s decision was prompted by the decision of current Down Council chairwoman, Maria McCarthy, not to contest the election.

The SDLP is fielding three candidates — Audrey Byrne, Mark Murnin and former Down GAA star Shane King — in the newly created Slieve Croob area which includes the wards of Ballydugan, Castlewellan, Drumaness, Ballyward and Dundrum.

Sinn Fein is fielding two candidates in Slieve Croob and is confident that both Pól Gribín and Stephen Burns will be returned to strengthen the party’s grip on the new council. Alliance’s Patrick Clarke is bidding to secure one of the five seats, while the fight for unionist votes is between the UUP’s Dessie Patterson and the

DUP’s Garth Craig, with Matthew Morrison standing for NI21. Alan Lewis is flying the flag for UKIP.

The newly created Mournes ward is a case of unknown territory for Sinn Fein’s sitting Newcastle councillor Willie Clarke who is fighting to secure one of the seven seats and will be hoping to make the most of his canvass on what is virgin territory. He is joined by party colleague Sean Doran from Kilkeel.

The SDLP’s flag bearers are sitting Down councillor Laura Devlin and Brian Quinn, who is a councillor in Newry and Mourne. Annette Holden is standing for NI21 and Glynn Hanna for the DUP. Alliance has selected Ciaran McAvoy, with UKIP nominating experienced councillor Henry Reilly. Jill Macauley and Harold McKee are the UUP’s standard bearers.

The Slieve Gullion, Crotlieve and Newry electoral wards — where a total of 19 seats are up for grabs — are located in the southern end of the constituency with the battle for electoral support there set to be as intense as those in the other areas.

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