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Adam Douglas - Green Party Convention 2009

Adam Interviewed by Matt Cooper on 'The last Word'

- Today F.M

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Douglas (19) to run for Green Party

Youngest candidate in Ireland to run in east Cork

Thursday November 13 2008

GREEN Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley will be in Fermoy on Friday to unveil his party's local election candidates for the east Cork area.
Minister Gormley will formally endorse the list of candidates running under the Green Party banner in next June's elections at a meeting in the Grand Hotel on Ashe Quay from 11am. Included on that list will be 19- year- old Adam Douglas, from Bartlemy, who will be running for a seat on Fermoy Town Council next June. A first year International Relations student at DCU, Mr Douglas will be the youngest Green Party candidate in Ireland to seek a position on a local authority.
The other candidates whose campaigns will be formally launched by Minister Gormley include Martin O'Keeffe who will run for Cork County Council in the Fermoy Ward, Cllr Liam Burke who will seek re- election to Youghal Town Council, Sarah Iremonger (Cobh Town Council) and Malachy Harty (Midleton Town and Cork County Council). During the meeting each of the candidates will outline their focus for the forthcoming campaign and issues they intend to tackle should they be elected. Mr Douglas this week told The Corkman that he was looking forward to getting out on the hustings.
"As someone who went to school in Fermoy I have a firm grasp of the important issues facing the town. It is my belief that many of the current councillors are out of touch with the people of the town and that new blood and fresh ideas are needed to push Fermoy forward," said Mr Douglas.
"Change is an absolute necessity if the council as a forum is to regain the confidence of the people living in Fermoy," he added.
Mr Douglas said the need for new blood on the council is one of key issues which he believed need to be addressed in the lead up to next year's vote. "Another important issue is the stagnation of Fermoy town centre and the need for structured sustainable retail development on sites such as the former Mart. It is vitally important that this development compliments the existing retail sector," he said.
"I would also view the implementation of the Fermoy Flood Plan as a vital issue to the future of Fermoy," added.
Meanwhile, former Progressive Democrat town councillor Peter Merrigan has confirmed he will run for election next year, despite the dissolution of the party last weekend. Cllr Merrigan told The Corkman that he is currently in contact with a number of other political parties.
"I will be a in a position to say more in the new-year," he said. "I can however confirm that I will be seeking re election, either as an independent or under the umbrella of a political party. "Even if the PDs do decide to reform in some shape or another, I will not be part of it."
- BILL BROWNE (The Corkman)

Fermoy expenses row set to run and run

December 23rd 2008

The fallout of Fermoy Town Council’s vote to reduce members’ conference expenses for the year ahead was felt this week with local election candidate Adam Douglas heavily criticising those who voted against scrapping the fund altogether.
In particular the Green Party representative for Fermoy has said he is “disgusted by the failure of Aileen Pyne, Fine Gael’s only town councillor, to support a move by four other members to forego conference allowances for the coming year”, claiming that it highlights Fine Gael’s ‘double speak’ on the issue of value for money.
“What we have here is a classical case of a party very critical of economic waste nationally but more than happy to squander money at local level. Cllr. Pyne defiantly defends the indefensible where conference allowances are concerned and has knocked back a very sensible proposal on an evening where she would similarly have been aware of the swimming pool’s financial difficulties and the €1m town council deficit predicted for next year.
" In an ideal situation all of the €25,000 could have been saved and furthermore the €3,000 spent on membership of the AMAI (Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland), from which the conference culture developed in the first instance, could be seen as it is, an excess,” Mr Douglas said.
Last week Councillors Seamus Coleman, Michael Hanley, Peter Merrigan and Brian Power voted in favour of reducing the allocated conference expenses from €25,000 to €13,000 with each in turn giving an undertaking that they would not seek any such expenses for the year ahead to facilitate the reduction in the allocated expenditure.
“As the town’s mayor, he is hardly a captain leading by example. Mayor O’Donovan both maintained his conference allowance and the mayoral allowance, both of which have questionable necessity in a time of great financial difficulty. There is a justifiable sense that the man is bereft of a clear map of where he wants the town to go and this is not a desirable situation now especially, nor at any time in particular,” he told the Avondhu.
“I reject out of hand any accusations of political grandstanding with a view to next summer’s local elections, I have totally opposed these expenses from the first time I sat on the council some 24 years ago. I regard it, like many issues coming to the fore nationally, as an abuse of public finances, which in this case are generated through local forms of taxation,” he added.
“I am involved in the AMAI and we have fought hard for 21 years to get these conferences organised. I think it is a pity that none of the four who have sought to reduce the expenses have ever attended an AMAI conference and have failed to see their value. Every council in the country has a council allocation for these expenses,” she told The Avondhu.
Meanwhile Cllr Hanley said that some confusion had arisen as a result of the vote to redistribute the money that had been earmarked for expenses.
“My proposal, backed by Councillors Seamus Coleman, Peter Merrigan and Brian Power is aimed at hopefully establishing a permanent fund where the town can contribute to what I consider to be the vital, most important aspect of education at primary level.
The funds would be available to seven primary schools in the area, five in the town itself and schools in Grange and Clondulane. I hope that those who will follow us on in the council will maintain this fund and realise its potential.
- JOE LEOGUE

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