McGrath to ‘shout for Downpatrick’ at Stormont

McGrath to ‘shout for Downpatrick’ at Stormont

11 May 2016

THE SDLP has returned two new faces from South Down.

Colin McGrath and Sinead Bradley are keen to hit the ground running and as two of the new kids on the Stormont block, want to fight for their respective corners of the constituency.

Five years ago, Colin McGrath was a red hot favourite to succeed his political mentor Margaret Ritchie at Stormont, but local SDLP delegates chose to co-opt former Kilkeel school principal Sean Rogers instead.

Last week, Rogers lost his Assembly seat, with McGrath the last of the six candidates to be elected. The formal confirmation of his election shortly before 10pm ended what had been a frustrating day for the Downpatrick youth worker who had to wait over eight hours to be declared an MLA.

As a result of his election, he will have to relinquish his seat on Newry, Mourne and Down Council and end his 17-year career as a youth worker with the Patrician Youth Centre which he joined after leaving college.

Mr McGrath said Downpatrick and the wider area needs an MLA working on its behalf at Stormont, suggesting it is important the new generation of younger MLAs try and bring some normality to politics in Northern Ireland, “because it desperately needs it.”

He continued: “I am sad to be leaving council politics after 11 years but am looking forward to the challenge ahead. It feels good to be an MLA and I had a long wait to be formally declared as a result of our vote management which was designed to try and keep three candidates in the running until the very end of the count.

“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to stand on the floor of the legislative building for Northern Ireland and shout for Downpatrick. I want to be the person shouting for the town and for the Downe Hospital, working to help secure jobs, enhance our infrastructure, boost our economy and support local education.”

The look of disbelief on Sinead Bradley’s face after she topped the poll said it all.

The daughter of former South Down MLA, P J Bradley, Sinead has been heavily involved in politics behind the scenes for many years and admitted she thought long and hard about putting her name forward for nomination, never believing for a moment that she would top the poll.

Admitting she was “shocked” by her performance, the new MLA believes the performance of the SDLP’s three candidates in South Down represents “the first step forward in reversing its fate in the constituency.”

She continued: “I was confident going into the election and was really pitching for a third SDLP seat behind Sean (Rogers) and Colin (McGrath). While I have been elected, there is a grey cloud hanging over today because Sean has missed out which is very sad as he was such a hard working member of the Assembly. We thought there was an outside chance of a third SDLP seat but it has not worked out and that is politics. 

“The fact Sean will not be returning to Stormont is not just a loss to the SDLP family, but a huge loss to the people of this constituency. However, I have no doubt I will be working with him in the years ahead.”

Ms Bradley said she is up for the challenge ahead, admitting that while identifying the problems is the easy bit, resolving them is going to be much harder and coming up with real, practical solutions in an environment where money is tight.