Eleven candidates are fighting for six seats in the Sligo/Strandhill electoral area.
In the first of our special election focus reports, we look at an area that runs from close to Ballisodare, taking in the Sligo town area and running all the way to the coast at Strandhill.
Of the eleven candidates in the Sligo/Strandhill area, six are outgoing councillors.
They are Sligo’s now longest-serving councillor Declan Bree, an Independent Socialist, as well as former mayors Tom MacSharry and Rosaleen O Grady, both Fianna Fail.
The other outgoing candidates are Solidarity People Before Profit’s Gino O Boyle, and Sinn Fein’s Chris MacManus.
Among the keenest watched performances will be that of another outgoing councillor, Fine Gael’s Sinead Maguire, who has already been selected as her party’s candidate in the next general election.
Also seeking a seat is former councillor and mayor of Sligo Jimmy McGarry, who narrowly lost his seat at the last local elections in 2014, after almost 30 years experience in local politics.
He has previously been a Labour and Fine Gael party councillor; this time he is running as an Independent.
Newcomers seeking election in Sligo/Strandhill area are Nessa Cosgrove for the Labour Party, Finbar Filan for Renua, Blaine Gaffney for Fine Gael and Miranda O’Donnell for the Green Party.
