We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Updated: 20.11
THE MAYOR OF Cork County has resigned from Fianna Fáil.
Alan Coleman cited a “disconnect by the party leadership with everyday local and national issues” as his reason.
The councillor will now run as an independent candidate in the general election, after failing to be selected to run for the party in the Cork South West constituency.
“Travelling throughout Cork county as mayor in recent months I have observed a palpable air of dissatisfaction with the lack of vision and leadership of Fianna Fáil,” Coleman said in a statement issued this afternoon.
“Fianna Fáil is clearly lacking policies that will improve the country we live in.
“As an experienced publicly elected representative I listen to the people that elect me and who I serve. Meeting these people it is clear that issues that affect urban and rural Ireland are not being brought to the fore by Fianna Fáil.”
The news is another blow for Fianna Fáil, with prominent Senator Averil Power resigning from the party last month.
Coleman said the party has “become reactive rather than proactive towards issues that impinge on farmers, small businesses and fishermen alike”, staing: “Rural Ireland has been decimated by the present government and Micheál Martin has failed to react.”
I have been considering my future for some time and the groundswell of support towards me from people throughout West Cork has persuaded me to move forward as an independent.
“I have made many friends in politics, particularly in Fianna Fáil but today this is a selfless decision by me to allow the constituents of Cork South West to elect an experienced, capable and proven representative.
“Since 1991 every time I stood for public election I have been returned and I look forward to the opportunity of representing the views of Cork South West effectively in Dáil Eireann.”
Coleman was First elected as a councillor in 1991 and became the first Fianna Fáil Mayor of Cork County since 1990.
A Fianna Fáil spokesperson said:
It is open to anyone to seek the party nomination and contest the convention in each constituency.Over 400 members voted in the convention in Cork South West at the weekend. Two very strong candidates contested, Gillian Coughlan and Cllr Margaret Murphy-O’Mahony.Under the one-member-one-vote system, it was the decision of party members alone who to select and the party respects the decision. The membership supported Cllr Margaret Murphy-O’Mahony and we look forward to an energetic campaign in the constituency.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
After failing to be picked he doesn’t want to play anymore.
Now suddenly he has a problem with the leadership – Election being called soon – Martin Pas from Merrill Lynch must have rang Enda !
FF’s problem is that very few join it out of political conviction.
What does the party stand for, who knows.
They join because it used to be a good career move and it had a voter base that would vote party no matter who the candidate was or did.
It provided opportunities to make a lot of money in kickbacks and the national party covered for those who were under investigation, as long as they kicked back to the party.
FF is a franchise rather than a party, who ever can take over a territory owns it and the party will back the winner.
As for not being impressed with Micheal Martin, that includes Martin’s firmest backers.
Will he resign as Mayor now as well seeing as he was a Fianna Failer when elected to the office ?
Ah now didn’t he say it was a selfless decision. What a brave man.
I always thought rats left a ship en masse…not one at a time. Amazing things rats!
Unfortunately I can only give a single thumbs up to your assessment of FF, even though it’s one of the best I’ve seen on this website.
ah ur mad…his term as mayor is up tonight. …all about timing
I always wonder with these things if any of these viewpoints were brought up by those jumping ship? Or do they just save it for feeling “let down” so that they can distance themselves from a party after the fact.
Politicians make it SO easy to be cynical!
Every idiot that fails at convention now wants to join scruffy mick Wallace brigade
FF were ok until they did not select him as a candidate, then it was run as an independent candidate and those FFrs are a bad shower.
Horse****, he only very suddenly hated Fianna Fail when they refused to pick him, Traitor seems to have been very happy with everything until that little hiccup!!!!!
Many in FF know that it is rotten and crooked to the very core, how could they not.
It is only when they cannot go along to get along that the conscience comes to the fore.
Near poetry.
Surprise surprise, another politician throwing his toys out of the pram
It’s my party if I run where I want to …..
Don’t vote for this guy Cork – he is another healy rae in operandi
It always amazes me how these guys think the public believe their Bullsh#t, If he had been selected to run by Fianna fail, he’d have no problem with them. But since he wasn’t , he intends to run as an independant and says there a disconnet with them. The disconnect is they didn’t select you and you want to get on the Gravy train!
It’s selfless of him to allow the people of Cork to elect him to Dail Eireann – really ?
Is this guy delusional or what the election hasn’t happened yet – it looks like an acceptance speech rather than a humble servant applying for a job ….
Poor little mite has never gotten over the party putting forward ‘ex-FF’ then ‘ex-Independent’ then ‘FF’ candidate Christy O’Sullivan in the 2007 election .
FF & SF defecting in Cork now? Are they finally going to secede and declare Da People’s of Caaark an independent state?
They should, it’d mean more points in the Eurovision.
they probably wouldnt vote for us after what we did to keano
It was a slow news week in the rest of the country so we decided to stir things up a bit. Normal service will resume next week during the annual migration to Majorcaaaah!
So has anyone got a list of the politicians in Cork who are still actually in a party? Just seems like they’re all defecting.
Will he also resign the Mayoralty of Cork County now seeing as he was elected to it by the members of the same party he now wants nothing to do with? I doubt it very much.
His term is up next week. Funny that.
Cork is a failed state
Will there even be an GE at all. The rumour is October. Can they call one just like that? I know they are hiring for the poll clerk postions already. Thought that was odd and never known before till coming to the date. Face it FF all the ones who are involved or had been involved need to go and let the young take over before they poison that pool to.
There might be, water charges have labour under pressure. And if they’re low in the polls FG might think it’s a good time to annihilate them. In order for a GE to be called the taoiseach has to ask the president to dissolve the government and the election called between 17 and 25 days later..
Does that answer your question?
Prima Donna syndrome strikes again, we will see a lot more displays in the coming months .
Feck it! I’m resigning from my job & running as an independent as well.
If nothing else, at least the institutional party politics is unravelling…..
We need a new breed of politician so badly. They have us ruined.
Watching the VB debate last night made me shameful of our country & the ppl we allow to govern us….
You will deffo get elected with your super smile…
“a selfless decision” yeah right not selected to run by FF so bails and announces he will run as an independent…..
Definitely something wrong with martins leadership skills when theres so much dissatisfaction and desertion in the party. But will he do the honourable thing and leave, nope! In his delusional state of mind, if he’s going down, FF are going down too.
Despite what politicians say, a lot of the mental health issues people get are a direct result of politicians bad management and poor decisions, things like financial hardship, losing a home, depression, suicide. Also there are undoubtably some politicians in the country who have mental health issues as well. You could say Martin is deluded in some form. The only things that are stopping him from tipping over the edge and becoming a mental health basketcase are the power that comes with his job and a very generous paycheck.
Democracy at play! Mr. Martin can’t be responsible for member’s choice of candidate. If he /she is perceived a vote winner, being added later to the ticket is a possibility, but not when all ties are severed.
Be great to hear what policies he put forward for consideration during time at FF, and whether he plans to push same as Independent.
Anyway, good luck to him; he seems keen for some/any fast road to National political stage.
Delighted…Michael Martin is such a low grade snivelling weak man…not statesman calibre…a completely hypocritical person. Remember he was fully part of the Government that allowed the ruination of this country….he was on that team!! Go away Fianna Fail…please go away…
“A selfless decision” in no way taken as a result of losing the nomination. How lucky the people of SW Cork are that he condescends to stand there: hope they’re grateful and honoured by the privilege.
Has he taken possession of that petition yet?
his term as county mayor is up today….didnt resign before that was up. politicians are full of bs.
Can anyone clarify when this guy became lod mayor? As far as I knew it was Mary Shields, wtf is going on..
he’s mayor of county and shields is/was mayor of city. Chris O’ Leary from sf is city mayor now.
For those asking whether he will resign as County Mayor, his term is up in a few days.
What is it about Cork Politicians this week?
Are they trying to prove the handle of ‘The Rebel County’ ????
Is this becoming a CORK thing or can anyone else join in too?
Fair play Alan – your like a school kid who has had his ice cream taken from him — your just a sore loser – surprise surprise you had no problem taking Fianna Fail nomination for County Mayor !! and its nice perks
This guy is a huge hypocrite. If he had issues with issues not being addressed surely he carried sufficient clout within the Party to do something about it. So instead he cuts and runs. As it is he sounds like the Shadow Minister for Sour Grapes.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say