Veteran councillor rejoins Fianna Fáil

Cllr Michael ‘Stroke’ Fahy from Ardrahan said that he was proud and privileged to be back in the party having been forced to resign his membership back in 2004.

And he claims to have something in common with former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey as both served time behind bars and were then accepted back into Fianna Fáil.

Cllr Fahy, who is nearly 40 years a member of Galway County Council, was jailed for the alleged misappropriation of funds involving a fence that was erected on his lands under a Community Involvement Scheme in 2004.

In March 2007 he was sentenced to a year in prison and fined €75,000 for the offence but, following an appeal, his conviction was quashed in 2011 and a number of years later, he reapplied to be reinstated within the Fianna Fáil party.

It is only this week that the party membership has been informed by Fianna Fáil General Secretary Sean Dorgan that Cllr Fahy has been reinstated and he will now take his place among the other twelve FF councillors in Galway County Council.

It also means that Fianna Fáil have now a majority within the Council chamber with 13 councillors as opposed to Fine Gael’s twelve.

And he claims to have one thing in common with the late Charlie Haughey. “I think we are the only two Fianna Fáil members to have served time in prison and then be admitted back into the Fianna Fáil party,” he told The Connacht Tribune.

He described his sentencing as ‘a travesty of justice’ but that his name was eventually cleared on appeal as the initial judgement was deemed unsafe.

However, he served a term of imprisonment from April to November, 2007 in Castlerea Prison and then looked after his 99-year-old mother until her death in December 2008.

Last week, he sat amongst his Fianna Fáil colleagues during a meeting of Galway County Council to discuss the budget for the coming year.

“It’s great to be back and I would like to thank Micheál Martin for affording me the opportunity to return. All twelve Fianna Fáil councillors have also welcomed my return,” Cllr Fahy added.

The Ardrahan councillor has been successfully returned to Galway County Council in the last seven elections – 1979, 1985, 1991, 2004, 2009 and 2014.

He will be standing in the new Gort-Kinvara Municipal District next May as a Fianna Fáil candidate and he is widely expected to retain his seat.

Cllr Fahy was Secretary of Ardrahan Cumann FF from 1971 to 1987 and was also Chairman of Clarinbridge-Kinvara Comhairle Dáil Ceantair for several years.

While his current focus is on retaining his seat on Galway County Council, he has not ruled out the possibility of contesting the Fianna Fáil selection convention for Galway East. He said that he will be consulting with his supporters.