Sinn Féin and Fine Gael in tight race for top spot

COUNTY COUNCIL PROFILE: MONAGHAN:MONAGHAN WAS unique among counties in returning Sinn Féin as the biggest party at the local elections in 2004.

The party garnered 31 per cent of the vote, just ahead of Fine Gael with 30 per cent, leaving Fianna Fáil in third with 29 per cent.

Monaghan has a strong Republican tradition, particularly in the north of the county, but it also has a strong Protestant vote that went to Fine Gael.

Sinn Féin and Fine Gael, who have seven seats on the council, have ambitions for a clean sweep.

Sinn Féin are fielding eight candidates and are looking for eight seats. Fine Gael are looking for nine from nine.

In a county where political change happens slowly, the shifting of allegiances is the one unknown. The Monaghan town electoral area has gained a seat at the expense of the Castleblayney electoral area. Sinn Féin are hoping to take four of the seven seats in Monaghan town, a big ask.

Fine Gael also have designs on the seat and have targeted the Green Party in the Carrickmacross area where barrister Vincent P Martin, elected in 2004 as an independent, is seeking re-election.

National issues dominate on the doorstep. Monaghan recorded the second-highest increase in unemployment last year.

Fine Gael Cllr Owen Bannigan from Castleblayney says he will fight to hold his seat after boundary changes meant 350 of his core votes went to the Clones electoral area, but he is buoyed by the reception on the doorstep. “If I was a Fianna Fáil councillor, I would not have a chance of holding the seat.”

A big local issue is Monaghan Hospital which is due to close its acute services this month.

It is playing big in north Monaghan and the entry of former TD Paudge Connolly, who won a Dáil seat on the back of the issue in 2002 only to lose it in 2007, adds another complication to the mix.

An issue exercising people in the south of the county is the proposal by Eirgrid to build a network of high voltage power lines as part of an interconnector between the North and the Republic. Local people want the cables buried underground. Indeed this is a proposal supported by all parties locally, although opposition parties believe they will benefit most from it.

Monaghan County Council incurred the wrath of Minister for the Environment John Gormley last year when he reversed their proposal to rezone enough land to almost triple the population.

Cllr Martin, who joined the Green Party as a result, said it resonates with those who have seen the awful result of over-development.

“I was the sole voice which consistently warned that many of the outrageous rezoning decisions were totally unsustainable and grossly inappropriate,” he said.