Robust debate from candidates

Packed hall for election event

Roscrea Community Development Council (RCDC) ‘Meet the Candidates’ event took place in the Abbey Hall, Roscrea, on Monday night last to a packed hall. Five Local Election candidates for the Roscrea/Templemore Electoral Area were in attendance together with three candidates for the Ireland South Constituency in the European Parliamentary Elections. There was robust debate with many local and contentious issues raised.

The event was chaired by John Lupton, RCDC Chairman, with Liam Shanahan looking after the time keeping and Steve Crofton and Conor Abbot in charge of the microphone system. The Local Election candidates in attendance were Willie Kennedy (Fine Gael), Cllr Shane Lee (Independent – Lowry team), Aisling Moloney (Green Party), Jordan Lewis (Labour) and Deirdre Ryan (Fianna Fáil). Apologies were received from Cllr Michael Smith (Fianna Fáil) and Breandán Ó Conchúir (Sinn Féin).

The candidates for the European Parliamentary Election in attendance were Grace O’Sullivan MEP (Green Party), Michael McNamara (non-party) and Michael Leahy (Irish Freedom Party).

The European Parliament candidates listened to the presentations of the Local Election candidates, as well as taking questions from the floor and thus addressed underlying policies and issues facing the community of Roscrea and District and many of which are impacted by National and European policies or in some cases the lack of same.

At the end of the meeting the chairman wished all the candidates the best of luck on June 7 in their respective elections. He also thanked the large crowd in attendance for the respectful manner in which they commented and raised questions on issues of concern for the community, some of which were emotive.