Longford Leader Editorial: History is made in Longford Co Council
History was made in Longford on Monday when Uruemu Adejinmi took her seat on Longford County Council for Fianna Fáil.
Ms Adejinmi was co-opted to the council by the party following the election of Joe Flaherty to Dáil Éireann last month. Ms Adejinmi is the first African born person to sit on the council and she is just one of two female councillors.
This is a seismic shift in local government and an important step for the entire community of Longford.
Longford town has one of the most diverse population bases in the country.
According to the 2016 Census, 27% of the population in the town are non-Irish nationals with the largest proportion of people in this category coming from Poland.
As a result of Ms Adejinmi’s appointment, Longford County Council now better reflects the changing population of the county and an important voice comes to the table. We can only hope that her appointment encourages other members of the non-national community to step into public life in the coming years to help shape the Longford of the future.
Of course the fact that Ms Adejinmi is a woman is also significant because she now becomes the second female representative on the council, along with Fine Gael’s Peggy Nolan. In the days ahead of International Women’s Day, it is very positive to see the “doubling” of female representation on the council - even if it brings the total to two out of 18.
While these positive developments are significant, they also highlight just how much more work needs to be done. Time and time again research shows that when women get elected, they change how the government, including local government, works in a way that helps women, families and all of society. They also inspire more women to come forward to run for election and we feverntly hope that this will be the case in Longford.
To conclude, Fianna Fáil may be tempted to clap themselves on the back for a job well done here but they deserve no plaudits.
The handling of the appointment, which happened when it emerged that first choice Michael Connellan was ineligible for the role is a poor indictment on the party, both locally and nationally. A lot done and more to do? Never was that statement more accurate.