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Second Galway councillor leaves Fianna Fáil

Noel Thomas said the party had become detached from people
Noel Thomas said the party had become detached from people

A second Conamara-based councillor has left Fianna Fáil and will run as an independent candidate in the local elections.

Noel Thomas said the party had become detached from people and that he had been left with no option but to sever his links with it.

Last week, Councillor Seamus Walsh announced he was leaving Fianna Fáil and would contest the June election under the Independent Ireland banner.

Both elected representatives were critical of Government plans to house asylum seekers in a former hotel in their area late last year. They questioned the wisdom of using properties in remote locations as accommodation centres, given the lack of resources in place.

The Ross Lake House Hotel was destroyed in an arson attack following protests there in mid December.

Cllr Thomas said he decided to leave Fianna Fáil as it was unrecognisable to him as the party he had been involved with for three decades.

He said he was both sad and relieved to have arrived at his decision.

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The Maigh Cuilinn based politician was also critical about an internal party investigation into his stance on the asylum seeker accommodation issue. He said he had made repeated efforts to determine what the exact nature of the disciplinary process was but had been given no clarity in that regard.

Cllr Thomas says he intends to run for re-election but has made no formal decision yet on whether to affiliate himself with the Independent Ireland party.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he claimed that the "main political parties... seem to have become very detached from the ordinary person".