Young Nigerian woman hopes to run for Fianna Fáil in Athlone

A young Nigerian woman, who has been living in Athlone for the past eight years, hopes to run for Fianna Fáil in next year"s Athlone Town Council local elections. Joy Salaja, who lives in Ard na Glug in Retreat, said this week she hopes to be selected to the party ticket at a forthcoming convention as she would bring diversity to the council and could be a voice not just for non-nationals in the community but also for women who she said were not sufficiently represented in politics. Joy has been attending cumann meetings for the past three years and is a member of the PJ Lenihan Cumann. Speaking about why she wants to run for Fianna Fáil she said: 'I want to serve the community. We"ve been here for eight years. It"s because of this community that we are where we are today, without them we would be in bondage in our country.' She added that the reason she selected Fianna Fáil as her party of choice was because Fianna Fáil gave her and her family status in this country and, for her, it was right to follow Fianna Fáil. Joy, who was educated at St Mary"s NS and Our Lady"s Bower, is about to enter the second year of an accountancy course at Athlone Institute of Technology. She said if she was to be chosen as a candidate for Fianna Fáil and elected she would bring diversity and inclusion to the council and said it would show that Fianna Fáil and Ireland had a strong integration policy. She added that she hoped it would encourage young people to vote and get involved in politics. 'I would be a shining example to young people,' she said. Joy added that there was a need for non-nationals on the council and said Irish people should be able to accommodate non-nationals. She said she hoped to show that non-national people were capable of representing the town on the local authority and to show Irish people that non-nationals were here to stay. She said this would never happen for her in Nigeria as in order to get involved in politics you must know someone. 'This place gives you freedom, it"s a land of opportunity,' she said. Joy said the Fianna Fáil party locally had responded well to her involvement and to her intentions to run for next year"s local elections. She said Deputy Mary O"Rourke had been very helpful to her over the last three years and said party members in general were all very encouraging. However, Joy is well aware that she faces stiff competition from sitting councillors and others hoping to get onto the party ticket. 'There are going to be challenges and I hope I can get passed them,' she said. Joy lives in Retreat with her parents Maureen and Abiodun and her siblings Rosemary, Visola and Raphael.