Lanesboro Independent Mark Casey insists all councillors 'need to put on the Longford jersey’

Independent councillor Mark Casey will assume the role of Cathaoirleach of the council for the second time in his political career later this week.

The Lanesboro based representative previously served as council chair from 2014-15.

Last week, Casey finalised a deal with Fine Gael to take the reins of power (along with the other independent Turlough McGovern).

McGovern had supported Fine Gael for the past five years.

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“People elected us to do our work for this council term. We have heard people on the doors. We need to put on the Longford jersey,” he stated.

Casey is clear on what this council needs to achieve for Longford. “We need to work on our county town. We also need to work on immigration and low cost housing for young people,” he commented.

While these may appear ambitious targets, Casey is keen that progress is made in the coming year.

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“Two big companies have made massive investments in county Longford - Abbott and Center Parcs. These investments total over €100 million,” he stated.

“There is massive potential for tourism in Longford,” he added.

Casey saw his own first preference vote drop by over 300 in the recent election. However, he expected a drop in his vote.

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“Fianna Fáil ran a strong candidate in Lanesboro this time (Sean Mimnagh, who got elected). I expected my vote to drop. However, I fought a good campaign and was delighted to get the third seat,” he stated.

“As Cathaoirleach, I will bring experience and a steady hand,” Cllr Casey added.

The main parties are locked at eight seats apiece following the outcome of the Local Elections.

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Under the agreement brokered, the other councillors to take the chair of the council will be Garry Murtagh (year 2), Paraic Brady (year 3), Turlough McGovern (year 4) and Gerry Hagan (year 5).

Leader of FF in the council, Seamus Butler, expressed his disappointment at how the negotiations went when he spoke to the Leader last week.

“I thought that we were dealing with people for whom their word was their bond. However, that is not how it turned out,” Butler remarked.

Butler revealed that the negotiations were ongoing until Tuesday evening.

“We made offers that seemed to be acceptable to both parties. However, in the end, the talks didn’t go our way,” he stated.

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