Party bans nomination of relatives for councils

LABOUR:LABOUR FAMILY dynasties are at risk following an edict from head office that relatives of TDs will not be considered for vacated local authority seats.

Labour head office has written to newly elected TDs advising them that nominations of their family members for city and county council positions, which had come available following the election, would not be welcome.

The closing date for nominations for the 14 available Labour local authority positions is noon today. A spokeswoman for the party yesterday said it does not expect any relatives of TDs to be put forward as candidates.

Unlike the Dáil, where seats which fall vacant mid-term are filled through byelection, political parties have the right to choose who will fill a local authority seat vacated by a member of the party.

Parties have routinely chosen family members of TDs for co-option on to the local authorities. Such candidates are generally successful in subsequent local elections and are regularly selected as candidates for general elections.

The Labour Party said the decision was taken to “keep the talent base fresh”.

The policy is a new one, with Emer Costello having been co-opted to Dublin City Council in 2003 to replace her husband Joe, and Eamon Tuffy replacing his daughter Joanna on South Dublin County Council in 2003. Both subsequently stood for local election and were elected.

Dublin City Council has the largest number of vacancies of any local authority, with nine councillors having been elected to the Dáil. Six of these are Labour councillors, and their replacements will be determined by a convention likely to be held next week.

Former city councillor Paddy McCartan is a strong possibility to fill the Fine Gael seat on the city council vacated by Eoghan Murphy. The People Before Profit alliance said it would be holding discussions over the weekend to determine who would be co-opted to fill Joan Collins’s city council seat. Sinn Féin yesterday said it had not yet decided who would replace Dessie Ellis.