Fianna Fáil councillor resigns from party to run as independent

An east Cork town councillor has resigned from Fianna Fáil and will contest the local elections as an independent, after she was overlooked for the party nomination.

Cllr Mary Linehan-Foley says she is “deeply disappointed and angry” at her treatment by the party “after 17 years of loyal service.”

Cllr Linehan-Foley has been a member of Youghal Town Council since 1999 and served three terms as mayor. After being championed by her cumann, she had high hopes of receiving a party nomination.

She says on the morning of the convention, on Jan 23, she received a phone call from Fianna Fáil HQ informing her that council colleague, Aaron O’Sullivan, and Midleton mayor, Niall O’Neill, would fill the party’s candidature and no vote would be taken.

The 47-year-old mother-of-five says she is particularly aggrieved having “never flinched in my commitment through the past five, very tough years.”

She says her loyalty “to the people of Youghal and east Cork” is now her priority and she hopes they will continue to support her: “It won’t be a political party that will decide my future, but the people.”