New West Cork area rep appointed
Fianna Fáil this week announced that the party has appointed a new local area representative in West Cork.
Danny Crowley, who is the new representative for Bantry Local Electoral Area and a former county councillor, said he was honoured to be taking on the role to represent his community and eager to bring about positive change for local people.
A native of the Beara peninsula, Mr Crowley said: “I am delighted to be appointed as area representative for the Bantry Electoral area and look forward to again working with our public representatives in highlighting the many genuine concerns of people living in West Cork.
“Living in Adrigole, I'm acutely aware of the many challenges facing rural communities. Farming and fishing will always be important to this area, however Government policies in recent years have failed to recognise the continuing decline in these sectors.
“Public confidence will need to be restored regarding both European and national policies around these sectors and this can only be achieved by meaningful discussions with stakeholders.”
Mr Crowley described West Cork as a great place where historically people have been “very creative in meeting the challenges of rural depopulation”.
The former councillor is calling for incentives to be introduced to encourage people to stay in West Cork: “We need some incentive for our youth to encourage them to look at staying in West Cork so we can retain the many services that are under constant threat of reduced hours or in some cases closure due to population decline.”
He said he wants to see current planning guidelines be amended to ensure local young people are given the opportunity to build a home on a site that may have been given to them by a parent or relative.
“This has always been our way in West Cork to provide affordable housing for the next generation and current planning guidelines if not amended will decimate rural communities,” he said.
Mr Crowley added that he was looking forward to working very closely with Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South-West TD Christopher O'Sullivan and Senator Denis O’Donovan along with our other elected representatives in finding solutions to local issues.
Deputy O’Sullivan said: “I know what a hard worker Danny is, I previously worked with him on Cork County Council. Danny has a reputation for being a trojan worker in terms of his work as a county councillor especially in the Bantry and Beara Peninsula areas.
“I’m really excited that he has been appointed an area representative. The entire Beara peninsula needs as much representation as possible because it can be very isolated.
“I know Danny will be a great addition along with the existing sitting councillor, Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy. We’ll have 2 really strong Fianna Fail reps in an area that need it.”