Sitting Offaly councillor selected at Fine Gael local elections convention

The convention was chaired by Senator Aisling Dolan, the Ballinasloe woman who is aiming to take a seat in the Roscommon/Galway constituency at the next general election.
Fine Gael’s sole standard bearer in the Tullamore Municipal District and incumbent councillor, Neil Feighery sought the party’s nomination to contest the local elections in June.

The Fine Gael National Executive issued a directive on the night to select one candidate whilst reserving the option of adding another candidate or candidates at a later date.
The convention was addressed by Deputy Charlie Flanagan and Cllrs Noel Cribbin, Liam Quinn and John Clendennen.
Cllr Feighery was proposed by party members, Theresa Wrafter and Joe Molloy. The convention was well attended with supporters of Cllr Feighery turning out in numbers to ensure that their first term Councillor secured the party nomination.
Theresa Wrafter and Joe Molloy informed the convention that Cllr Neil Feighery had hit the ground running since his election in 2019 and that he has established himself as a capable and effective local representative. They said that his record of hard work and his ability to obtain the backing and support of senior Government Ministers for projects in the district is testament to his many years of work within the party and his previous work as a Parliamentary Assistant in Leinster House. They urged the party faithful to get behind Cllr Feighery’s candidacy and support his efforts to seek a renewed mandate to represent the Tullamore Electoral Area on Offaly County Council in the new council term.
Cllr Feighery addressed the convention and outlined to all present his work on Offaly County Council since his election in May 2019. He said that he ran an energetic and dynamic election campaign as a first time candidate and that he was humbled by the mandate that he received from the electorate. Cllr Feighery said that he enjoys a close working relationship with his Fine Gael colleagues on Offaly County Council, John Clendennen, Noel Cribbin and the group leader Liam Quinn. Cllr Feighery said that the FG team in Offaly has shown itself to be hardworking, pragmatic and progressive and that at all times they have resisted heading down the self-serving populist route.
Cllr Feighery said that he has successfully developed a significant number of roads schemes under the Local Improvement Scheme and the Community Involvement Scheme, with 3 large CIR schemes completed to a very high standard in Derrygolan and Killoughey and he committed to continue to prioritise this work if selected at the convention and if he is re-elected in June. Urban and rural regeneration was cited as a key priority for Cllr Feighery and he highlighted the success of renewal schemes in Tullamore,on the Brocca Road in Mucklagh, Mountbolus and Ballycumber. He went on to speak of the exciting plans in place to develop the new High Street to Tanyard Link Road and the new O’Connor Square/Church Street link saying that when delivered in the coming years that it will really help to alleviate traffic congestion and make the town more accessible for all.
Cllr Feighery spoke of his priority to secure regeneration funding from central Government for Rahan village, to secure speed calming measures at problematic areas across the district, to continue to support the campaign to restart the N52 Kilbeggan to Tullamore link road and to ensure that a new IDA site is identified and secured to facilitate further expansion of our existing IDA employers and hopefully attract new IDA investment to our town.
Cllr Feighery said that if selected he would continue to be a competent and dedicated public representative and that he was determined to build on his work in his first term.