Fianna Fáil Selects its Final Candidates to Contest the Local Elections in Dublin

Last night Members of Fianna Fail selected two candidates to contest the local elections in the Cabra Finglas Area, David Costello and Paul Ward. The Cabra-Fingals Area includes Finglas west and south, the parts of Finglas East which lie north of the Séamus Ennis road, Cabra, The Navan road, Ashtown, Pelletstown and parts Phibsboro and of Glasnevin.

David Costello who is a first time election candidate said:

“I am delight to have been selected to contest the local elections on May 23^rd this year. As someone who is new to politics, I look forward to getting the opportunity to prove my self to the people of my community if elected to Dublin City Council”

In his address to delegates following his selection Costello said:

“Our party (Fianna Fail) has demonstrated time and time again through out its history, that we are the party that stands for fairness,----- protecting the interests of the vulnerable in society.

I was born 30 years ago to Tommy and Kathleen Costello and have lived most of my life in the Finglas Area. My dad passed away a number of years ago. However, I know he would have been very proud this evening. For the majority of my memorable life my father suffered from MS. So, I appreciate the difficulties faced by the many families in our community who where left stranded last year when Dublin City Council announced that it could not award any more housing adaptation grants during the second half of 2013. This was because funding from central government was cut by 40% in the previous budget.

Suspension of the grant caused great distress to many families in our community. Time and Time again over the last 8 months I have met distraught families on the doors who where affected by this cut. This cut was passed from a Fine Gael-Labour led government to a FG-Labour led City Council and accepted with out question. It’s not good enough and we have to remind people that we are the party who oppose these unfair actions.”

During his address Costello discussed other areas that would drive his campaign over the coming months. They included youth mental health and suicide prevention, property tax, uncertainty over the cost of water charges and illegal dumping.

Costello and Ward intend to present a united campaign across the area which includes more than 20,000 homes.

Costello finished by saying:

“We are part of the new generation of Fianna Fail, who stand ready to set out our vision for Dublin in the coming months”