Councillor William O’Leary of Cork, affiliated with the Fianna Fáil party, recently revealed his decision to run as an Independent candidate in the upcoming local government elections. Citing the party’s ‘failure’ to pay attention to the needs of everyday people, he voiced his growing dissatisfaction with Fianna Fáil over some time. In a statement published on his social media page, he conveyed that the decision was taken with no light heart, believing it to be the proper course of action.
In the past weeks, Cllr O’Leary is the third councillor to depart from Fianna Fáil, following two others from the County of Galway who were opposed to the proposed plans to house asylum seekers. Whilst refuting the party’s inability to adequately address the everyday problems of the populace, Cllr O’Leary also expressed his dissatisfaction with the party’s response to his concerns.
During last year, he had voiced support for objections against housing asylum seekers in Fermoy and paid tribute to the objectors as ‘genuine, dedicated people’. Criticising the current Government’s composition, Cllr O’Leary lamented that he opposed the Coalition on grounds that an efficient government warranted a ‘more resilient opposition’ to ensure their accountability.
According to him, the formation of a Coalition between the parties led to a diluted opposition, culminating in a relaxed approach by the Government in attending to the needs of everyday people. This, he wrote, has resulted in a government inert to the people’s requirements. He also argued that the Fianna Fáil party had radically changed over the past ten years and had strayed from many of its underlying principles, resulting in a loss of identity.
In his statement, Cllr O’Leary exhibited his misgivings about the best way to serve his electorate, ultimately making the hard decision to proceed in the forthcoming elections as an Independent candidate. Fianna Fáil had not provided a comment at the time of reporting.
In the prior year’s December, Councillor O’Leary expressed, in a community meeting at Fermoy, his concerns about Ireland’s dangerous trajectory where people were tagged as ‘far-right’ if their perspectives deviated from those of the ruling class. His statement was made following the comments of two representatives from Galway about the government’s immigration strategy, which came in light of an incident involving a fire at a Rosscahill hotel designated to accommodate asylum seekers.
Observers from the local community are not shocked about his resignation, though it could affect Fianna Fáil’s probability of winning a second seat in the Cork East constituency for the next General Election. According to local sources, Councillor O’Leary was part of a team that garnered strong support in 2019 election, and his departure might hurt the party’s effort to secure a seat in the constituency’s northern region; a move meant to supplement James O’Connor’s position in the south.
Earlier this week, one of the Galway’s Fianna Fáil councillors, Councillor Noel Thomas, who had previously criticised the government’s asylum seeker housing plan, quit the party. His exit aligns him with his fellow critic, Councillor Seamus Walsh, who also decided to leave the party.