Councillor resigns from SDCC to emigrate to Australia

Sinn Féin councillor Niamh Fennell has announced her resignation from South Dublin County Council.

While a councillor’s resignation is usually newsworthy, the manner of Fennell’s resignation is a uniquely Irish problem.

The Palmerstown-Fonthill councillor revealed that she is emigrating to Australia.

The most recent set of statistics from the Central Statistics Office showed that 65,600 people emigrated from Ireland in the first three months of last year.

The CSO figures showed that 35,000 Irish citizens left Ireland to live abroad in the first few months of 2025.

In a statement, Fennell said, “for many reasons, some personal and some political, I’ve decided on a new adventure, a new challenge and somewhere with a little bit more hope.”

“Australia has been a destination for many young Irish people. For work, for a future, for a home and for a better lifestyle. I am one of those young people who doesn’t have a home to call my own, who’s faced with the pressure of the cost of living and whose hope of a future in Ireland is fading away.”

Fennell said, “I’ve made the choice, along with thousands of others, to leave behind the beautiful island I call home, with the hopes of starting a life I deserve elsewhere.”

She said the decision to emigrate “has not been an easy choice and I’ve done all I could to try and make things work here.”

“Unfortunately, for many reasons, that has not been a possibility. One day I hope I can come home,” she said.

Daniel Loftus, who ran alongside Fennell in Palmerstown-Fonthill in the 2024 local elections, will be co-opted into the vacant council seat.

Fennell said, “I’ve been privileged to serve my community as a public rep, just shy of two years now. In that short time I’ve passed several motions and helped many people with individual cases. I ran for election in 2024 with the hope of helping my community and trying to make it a better place to live, which I feel I have done in numerous ways and for many people”

“There have been some success stories and many more challenging ones. However, I am proud of what I have achieved to date,” she said.

Fennell paid tribute to local Sinn Féin members, such as her colleague Mark Ward.

She said the Dublin Mid-West TD has been a “huge support from day one, when he asked me to get involved, right up until today.”

“I can’t thank him enough for every opportunity, for putting his faith in me and guiding me every step of the way,” she said.

Fennell thanked the voters who made her a councillor in 2024, saying, “without you I would have never had the opportunity to represent you, to work for you, to hear you, to voice your opinions, help and support you.”

“Your vote has allowed me to learn, to grow and to create little pockets of change within our community.”

She paid tribute to Sinn Féin’s other councillors on SDCC, William Carey, Louise Dunne, Niamh Whelan and Roisin Mannion, and wished them “all the best” as they carry on in their council terms.

Ward said, “I’d like to thank Niamh for her tireless work on behalf of the people of Palmerstown/Fonthill; we will all miss her.”

He said that her replacement, Daniel Loftus, “will bring a lifelong history of republican activism to his new role and carry on the work that Niamh began.”