Labour’s Lyons ready for battle

LABOUR TD, John Lyons, has been selected by his party to defend the Dublin North West seat he won in the last general election.

Deputy Lyons got the third highest number of first preferences last time out and secured his place in Lenister House with the help of transfers from then party colleague, Roisin Shortall, who topped the poll and was elected on the first count.

However, this time around will be more difficult for the Labour representative with Deputy Shortall now expected to contest for one of the three seats either as an Independent or as part of a new national alliance with other non-party TDs.

Labour has also been struggling in polls with the smaller coalition party blamed for some of the harsher measures introduced by the current Government to tackle the financial crisis.

Sinn Fein will be hoping to capitalise on Labour’s local and national problems by fielding two candidates, sitting TD, Dessie Ellis and Cllr Cathleen Carney Boud.

Cllr Paul McAuliffe is expected to contest for a Fianna Fail seat in the constituency, which had two sitting Government ministers from the party at the beginning of the decade.

It’s unclear who’ll be running for Fine Gael as the party has no current sitting TDs but Cllr Noel Rock will be putting his name forward and is likely to be given the nod.

Jimmy Dignam will be the Workers’ Party representative and is the only other declared candidate.

At last week’s Labour selection convention Deputy Lyons acknowledged the

“difficult decisions

? made since the last general election but highlighted his party’s achievements in power.

“It would have been much easier to stay in opposition after the last General Election in 2011,

? he said.

“As a party, we entered coalition, knowing that difficult decisions would have to be made, and some would be seen as unpopular.

“I genuinely believe this country is in a far better position than we inherited back in 2011.

“Unemployment has fallen from over 15 per cent to just 9.8 per cent and it is contining to fall. The positive benefits of this are felt locally as the Ballymun and Finglas Social Protection area offices have reported consistent drops in unemployment since 2012.

“I am particularly proud of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee, which has helped to decrease youth unemployment in the area by a third.

?