Derry Aontú councillor to contest Assembly seat

Aontú has selected Derry councillor Emmet Doyle as its candidate for Foyle in the next Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Emmet Doyle.Emmet Doyle.
Emmet Doyle.

The party says it’s targeting the Derry constituency “as we aim to challenge the Stormont establishment parties and provide genuine opposition to the broken Stormont system.”

Councillor Doyle replaced Dr. Anne McCloskey on Derry City and Strabane District Council in November 2020.

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She stood down as a councillor citing differences between her views on Covid-19 and those of her party.

Announcing Colr. Doyle’s candidacy, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD says that, while both Sinn Fein and the SDLP have “forgotten where they come from”, his party is the only one in Derry and Strabane “fighting for the right to life, Irish unity and economic justice.”

He added: “Derry and the north west of Ireland has been ignored by the Stormont Assembly since its inception. As a regional city, Derry has enormous potential and we, in Aontú, are determined in making it happen.”

Derry, says Mr Tóibín, is an “afterthought” when it comes to infrastructural development.

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“Aontú is pushing for balanced regional development so that families can work, live and raise their families in their own communities,” he added.

According to Mr Tóibín, while only two years old, his party has already achieved more than 50,000 votes, has elected representatives from Derry to Wexford, has in excess of 1,000 members and 60 functioning Cumann.

“We are an All-Ireland political movement that is now preparing for the Stormont elections,” he said. “The Foyle constituency will be a target constituency for us. I have every confidence that Emmet Doyle will help lead that fight for Aontú in Stormont.”

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