KillarneyToday.com Exclusive
THE Fianna Fail organisation in Killarney has suffered a major blow with the bombshell news that popular vote-winner Cllr John Joe Culloty is stepping down and will not seek to retain his seat in next May’s local elections.
He has revealed to KillarneyToday.com that he has informed party headquarters of his decision and FF colleagues at grassroots level were also briefed on the matter this Monday.
Cllr Culloty wouldn’t be drawn on the reasons behind his decision but, he said, he would make a full statement to delegates at the party’s local elections convention in Killarney on Sunday week.
“There are several reasons that led to me making the decision. I have a lot of concerns about certain things and all will be made known at convention,” he told KillarneyToday.com.
He ruled out any return to elected office at a future date and he laughed off any suggestion that he might consider running as an Independent candidate.
The former Mayor of Killarney, who polled 1,683 first preference votes in the 2014 local elections, first entered active political life in May 2011 when he was co-opted to Kerry County Council in place of then TD Tom Fleming of whom he was a long-time supporter.
He has built up a strong profile in the county since then and he has been involved in several high-profile campaigns, not least leading the opposition to the referendum to remove the Eighth Amendment.
Cllr Culloty, who is chairman of Kerry Right to Life movement, publicly stated that he was “very disappointed” with party leader Micheál Martin’s stance in the abortion debate. In 2015 he also became embroiled in a public spat with Atheist Ireland over his proposal to have a crucifix placed on the wall of the refurbished Kerry County Council chambers of Tralee.
Cllr Culloty had clearly outlined his priorities for his time on the council and he and his colleagues have delivered on many of them, including the provision of a new burial ground, ensuring Killarney House and Gardens reopened on schedule and progress with the development of a new looped walk encircling the Lakes of Killarney.
Prior to, during and after his term as Killarney’s first citizen in 2015-16, he was never slow to don a fluorescent safety bib and hit the roads picking litter and plucking weeds and he remains very active in the Killarney Meitheal and the tidy towns group.
Cllr Culloty, who lives with his wife, Mary, and their family in Knocknaskeha in Spa, is also very actively engaged in several community projects and he has been to the fore in the running of the St Patrick’s Day parade, Christmas in Killarney, the Ring of Kerry Cycle and events like the Adventure Travel and Tourism seminar and the Mountain Festival.
After initially being nominated for convention in the Castleisland Municipal Area, Cllr Culloty was one of five FF candidates nominated in Killarney and it leaves Cllr Niall Kelleher as the party’s only outgoing councillor in the district seeking re-election.
The other FF nominees in the Killarney Municipal District area include former town council member Tom Doherty and postman John O’Shea, both of whom were unsuccessful candidates in 2014, as well as newcomer auctioneer Ken O’Sullivan who is from Beaufort but has an office in Killarney.
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