Posted online: Jun 22nd, 2009

By Chris Ashmore
Letterkenny Town Council is a woman-free zone – all nine members of the new council are men.
And it’s the same story in the Letterkenny Electoral Area of Donegal Co. Council where all seven seats were won by men.
Indeed, in a time when there has been a noticeable drive to encourage more women to enter politics, Letterkenny stands out.
On the previous town council, Cllr. Jean Crossan was the sole female councillor. She opted not to run this time around, but surprisingly only two female candidates ran out of a field of 21, Siobhan McLaughlin of Labour, and Stella Oladapo of Fianna Fail.
Originally, Joanne Sweeney Burke of Fine Gael was going to run, but she decided to concentrate her efforts on bidding to win a seat on Donegal Co. Council, but she just missed out.
Party insiders readily acknowledge that a lack of female candidates is a problem that they have to address, and come the next local elections there will surely be far more women in the field.
During the post-election speeches, Cllr. Dessie Larking made reference to the gender imbalance, stating that that it was “very unfortunate” that there is no female on the (town) council.”
Meanwhile, Donegal Co. Council has just three female councillors, Sinn Fein’s Cora Harvey and Maire Therese Gallagher and Fianna Fail’s Rena Donaghey.