Keogan and Hoey seats on Meath Co Council to be filled

The process of filling two seats on Meath County Council left vacant by the election to the Seanad (Senate) of Councillors Sharon Keogan and Annie Hoey is now under way and the co-options are expected to take place when the council meets for its annual general meeting early in June.

Labour's Annie Hoey.

Senator Hoey is attached to the Labour Party and party officials have now written to members of the Jimmy Tully Branch of the party in East Meath seeking applications to fill the county council seat. If more than one person applies, a party convention will be held and members will vote on their preference for nomination.

Sharon Keogan was elected to the Seanad.

In the case of Senator Keogan, who sat on the council as an independent, she followed the existing practice in the council in which she named her successor to be placed in a sealed envelope and lodged with the council pending the holding of the meeting in June.

She said today (Thursday) that the task of getting people to apply to be a councillor was a difficult one and at least two people she had asked had declined to be put forward. She said that she had nominated a woman for the position but did not want to disclose her name at this stage. She said that her nominee had the support of several independent councillors on the council.