The Ulster Unionist Party have announced their candidates for the forthcoming election while Trade Unionist Donal O'Cofaigh has revealed that he will stand in the Enniskillen area for Labour Alternative.

The UUP will be running plenty of familiar faces in the forthcoming elections with eight of their nine candidates sitting councillors. Former Council Chairman Robert Irvine and current Chairman Howard Thornton will contest the Enniskillen area with another sitting councillor, Victor Warrington will stand in Erne East.

In Erne North John McClaughrey will join the ticket of sitting councillor Diana Armstrong while in Erne West Alex Baird, who has served on the Council since 2005, will run again.

Mr. McLaughrey is the one new face for the UUP in Fermanagh and is the son of long-serving Councillor Caldwell McClaughry.

Bert Wilson, Chris Smyth and Allan Rainey will look to retain their seats in Mid Tyrone, Omagh and West Tyrone respectively.

Meanwhile Donal O'Cofaigh will look to make a return to local politics with Labour Alternative. O'Cofaigh was a Councillor for Sinn Fein but left the party in 2009. He ran for election in 2011 for the socialist party and again in 2014 as an Independent. He received 8 per cent of first preference votes on that occasion but failed to get elected.

Speaking this week O'Cofaigh said:

"One hundred years ago, workers in Fermanagh formed a trade union council to unite their struggles and advance their common interests. A year later, the first Labour councillors were elected in Enniskillen. Back then, the rising labour movement was correctly seen as a threat by the right-wing forces of both Unionism and nationalism because of its ability to bring together Protestant and Catholic workers."