Macroom man takes key role in Keir Starmer's Labour

MACROOM man Morgan Sweeney has been appointed director of campaigns for the British Labour Party.

Morgan, who is the son of Macroom-based accountant Tim McSweeney and his wife Carmel, recently took up the key role within the party.

It was while studying for a politics degree at Middlesex University that Morgan, who is now 46, first filled in for a Labour Party receptionist. But his rapid rise through the ranks has placed him in an important role in the party led by Kier Starmer.

Politics, they say, is in the blood, and Morgan’s first cousin Clare Mungovan, who is also from Macroom, is equally well-connected as a special adviser to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Morgan first made print in 1982, when he appeared as the mascot for Macroom’s GAA team, after they won the county championship.

Clearly, he knows a thing or two about strategy. He has been described by those in the know as having the psychology of an organiser and being brilliant with it.

Meanwhile, another Co Cork-born man, Damien Egan, overturned a Conservative majority to win the Kingswood by-election for the Labour Party on February 15th.

Damien Egan was born in Cork city but moved, as a child, to Bristol with his family. The new MP said the fact that his family experienced homelessness and lived, for a time, in temporary accommodation, shaped his opinions.

Damien, who converted to his husband’s Jewish faith, said he was born into a family that was ‘culturally Catholic’ and that he had even served as an altar boy.

Speaking after winning an impressive 44.9% of the vote, Damien Egan said it would be an honour to represent his community.