A KILLARNEY man has been named on a key committee that will plot Sinn Fein’s strategy in Kerry for the next general election.
John Buckley is the PRO on the new 10-person body aiming to build the party in the south of the county while maintaining its stronghold in the north Kerry area.
Sinn Fein will be working hard to win two of the five seats up for grabs in Kerry in next year’s election and party activists are hoping an exceptionally strong performance in the greater Tralee and Listowel area could result in a significant transfer to a candidate on the Killarney side of the traditional county divide.
Mr Buckley, a 43-year-old painter-decorator from St Brendan’s Place, contested the Kerry County Council elections last May and delivered a very solid performance in his debut election campaign.
An avid angler and a member of the Lough Leane Angling Association and the Killarney Salmon and Trout Anglers, he was captain of the Irish team at the European Championships in Sweden last year.
Mr Buckley was a founder member of the Sinn Féin cumann in Killarney in the late 1990s.
The Killarney man, who is married with a teenage daughter, was appointed PRO at the annual general meeting of the Sinn Fein Comhairle Ceantair in Tralee.
Former Tralee town councillor, Cathal Foley, was selected to replace outgoing chairperson Ristéard Ó Fuaráin, Robert Brosnan from Lispole was elected as vice-chairperson and outgoing secretary, Yvonne Sugrue from Ballybunion, was returned.
Other top-table positions will be filled by Jacqo Le Bourhis, Glenbeigh (assistant secretary); Jeremiah Clifford, Banna and Moss Hannon, Kilflynn (treasurers); Padraig Sugrue, Tralee (finance officer); Nancy Foran, Castleisland (equality officer) and Ristéard Ó Fuaráin, Ballyheigue (membership officer).
Cathal Foley told the meeting that the party had a very successful 2014 with five out of six candidates elected to Kerry County Council while Sinn Fein in Kerry also played a big role in electing Liadh Ní Riada to the European Parliament.
He said the party is seeing an influx of new members, particularly from the Killarney and South Kerry area, and this bodes well for the upcoming general election which will see Kerry being reduced to a single five-seat constituency.
“The party is seeking to nearly double its membership between now and 2020,” Mr Foley said.
