Sinn Féin finalises local election ticketwith selection of Heaney and Fleming

Mr. Heaney has been selected to run alongside Sinn Féin’s longest-standing Derry-based councillor, and until last year the party’s group leader, Paul Fleming.

After 12 years working in the community and voluntary sector Mr. Heaney spent ten years advising Michelle O’Neill as Agriculture Minister, Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister, and Chris Hazzard in Transport.

He said: “We are in a crucial time for politics. There is a momentum for change in society with support building behind Sinn Féin’s platform of equality, rights and Irish unity.

“There also is widespread concern among farmers and wider rural communities about Brexit and the impact it will have here. The backstop which has already been agreed with the EU and British government must be maintained in order to provide some protection for our farmers from this reckless Tory Brexit agenda.”