Sinn Féin select Joanne Corcoran as Dublin Mid West general election candidate
Sinn Féin has selected Joanne Corcoran to
contest the next general election in Dublin Mid West. The party’s Chief
Negotiator Martin McGuinness attended the selection convention in the
Pollyhops Pub in Newcastle on Monday night and said he believed that Sinn
Féin was on target to take a seat in the constituency. She was proposed by
Councillor Shane O' Connor and seconded by Larry Doyle, outgoing
Chairperson of the Stagg/Kelly Sinn Féin cumann in Quarryvale.
Mr
McGuinness said:
“This constituency becomes
a four-seater in the next election and there is the potential to elect a
Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Mid West. Our growth rate in this area has been
phenomenal and in the last local elections we saw Shane O’Connor, top the
poll in Clondalkin and Feilim MacChríosta come within a handful of votes
of taking a seat in Lucan ward.
“We’ve
selected a strong candidate for Dublin Mid West, because this constituency
is being viewed as a priority area by Sinn Féin. More and more people in
the West of Dublin feel abandoned and angry at this Government’s health
policies, transport policies and education policies, and we will be
looking to put our party’s proposals to the residents of Mid West and
asking them to vote for Joanne.”
Ms
Corcoran said she was honoured to be selected.
She said: “It is a great privilege to represent Sinn Féin in the coming General Election and I am very conscious of the responsibility I have taken on. I would like to thank Shane and Larry for their support and I hope to build on the massive amount of work Shane as councillor and Feilim as local representative have been doing. A candidate, especially a Sinn Féin candidate, is only as good as the organisation and members backing her up and I look forward to working with the people in this room.
She went on to highlight the dismal
performance of Tanáiste and Dublin Mid-West TD Mary Harney as Minister for
Health.
She
said: “Mary Harney, her policies, her party, and her department have all
been a disgrace over the last number of years. She has driven the health
system in this state into a downward spiral that it will take years to
recover from.
“Health
is a priority for Sinn Féin and particularly for me in this election. I am
going to question Mary Harney on every bad decision she makes and make
sure she is held accountable to the electorate. They deserve nothing
less.” ENDS
Note for editors
Joanne
Corcoran has been a member of Sinn Féin for eight years. She is 26 years
of age and lives in Blanchardstown with her partner, former editor of An
Phoblacht Martin Spain, and their new baby, Isobel.