The Workers’ Party has selected Councillor Ted Tynan as its candidate for Cork North Central in the forthcoming general election.

The Mayfield based councillor was chosen by the Workers’ Party membership in North Central at a meeting in the constituency yesterday.

Cllr. Tynan has represented the party on Cork City Council since 2009 and more than doubled his votes in the 2014 local elections, coming within 9 votes of topping the poll in his area.  He is one of the city’s most outspoken public representatives and has taken a strong stand on many issues such as unemployment, housing and water charges.

Speaking after the selection convention, councillor Tynan said that for a large section of the population, the workers, those dependent on social welfare and the subsistence level self-employed, every aspect of daily life was a struggle as a result of austerity. However austerity was not a natural phenomenon like the rain or cold weather, it was a deliberate policy of the parties that made up 90% of the membership of Dáil Éireann. He believed that in the forthcoming general election that balance would swing leftwards to the Workers Party and other genuine left candidates.

The Workers Party Councillor said that the Northside of Cork had been neglected by one party after another and that people were no longer prepared to vote on the basis of promises. “People want to see results, they want Dáil deputies who will represent them week in and week out and not just disappear once the election is over. They want public representatives who stand wholeheartedly and unambiguously on their side. I stand for class politics, for socialism which puts the needs of the many ahead of the demands of the rich and powerful. I am confident that people will look at my record and see that I represent a totally different type of politics, a politics that fights injustice side by side with the people than rather lecturing them or adopting a ‘we know best’ attitude”

Cllr. Tynan said that the Workers’ Party was growing once again, having increased its vote in last year’s local elections and gained many new and young members.  “People know where they stand with the Workers’ Party and they know where they stand with Ted Tynan” he stated.