Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/John McGinley (politician)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete; fails WP:BIO#Politicians. - Philippe 04:44, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

John McGinley (politician)

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Another unreferenced stub on a non-notable local councillor in Ireland. There are two external links, one to his party's website and one to that of his employer, the Electricity Supply Board of which he is a worker director. A Google News search throws 11 hits, but none of them seem to amount to anything like the substantial coverage required by WP:BIO to establish notability for local councillors. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 16:46, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Ireland-related deletion discussions.  . -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 16:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Ireland-related deletion discussions.  . -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 16:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Delete per nom. TallNapoleon (talk) 21:16, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Politicians-related deletion discussions.   -- Fabrictramp (talk) 23:20, 12 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Delete - insufficient evidence of notability. Warofdreams talk 21:20, 13 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep - there was more evidence of notability (general secretary of the 4th largest party in the country and a mayor of one of the most populous counties), it was removed, and I've added it back. I'd also add that the local newspaper for his area - the Liffey Champion - isn't available online so wouldn't come up in Google News. He'd be covered in it pretty much every week. --89.101.141.253 (talk) 12:36, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Reply The General Secretary of the Irish Labour Party is not at all a high-profile role; it's a an important job in the party, but it's a backroom job, and the gen sec would usually have very little public name recognition. The ref which you reinstated does mention McGinley, but it's not about him, it's about the N9 road and he gets a few quotes in it; that doesn't establish notability. I don't have access to the Liffey Champion, but I'll take your word that he gets regular mentions there; however even that coverage is in articles about him, that doesn't establish notability per WP:BIO. The guideline refers to "Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage.[7]". That footnote7 says "Generally, a person who is 'part of the enduring historical record' will have been written about, in depth, independently in multiple history books on that field, by historians. A politician who has received 'significant press coverage' has been written about, in depth, independently in multiple news feature articles, by journalists. An actor who has been featured in magazines has been written about, in depth, independently in multiple magazine feature articles, by magazine article writers. An actor or TV personality who has 'an independent biography' has been written about, in depth, in a book, by an independent biographer." I don't see any sign of evidence that McGinley "been written about, in depth, independently in multiple news feature articles, by journalists". I did a search of the Irish Times archives for "John McGinley" which threw up 151 hits, but most of them are about a Garda from County Donegal who featured in the Morris Tribunal. So I searched again, this time for "John McGinley" kildare, and got 20 hits, but none of the articles are actually about him. The closest I can see to something about him is two articles speculating that he might be the Labour candidate in a by-election: this one first mentions his name in paragraph 14, and this one in para 10, but there is only one name-mention in each case, and in the end he didn't win the nomination for the Kildare North by-election, 2005, and I can't even find any evidence of him actually having put his name forward for selection. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 14:59, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
 * He didn't go forward, but what does this have to do with anything? Also, isn't Mayor of an area of 190,000 people 'notable' as local politics goes? That reference was to reference him being Mayor, as it happens - as Kildare CoCo's website doesn't mention past mayors, just the current one. --85.134.182.22 (talk) 19:28, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Local councils in Ireland have very little power, and no non-trivial source of revenue. The mayor of an Irish county council is not a powerful executive office (which it is in the USA or in London), it's a rebranding of a role which was known until a few years ago as "chairman"; a part-time post, which in any case is held for only one year. Even the news of his election as mayor  gained him only a brief mention in the county newspaper, the Kildare Nationalist, which doesn't suggest that the county newspaper regards it as a hugely important role. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 20:13, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
 * The Nationalist isn't anywhere close to being 'the county newspaper', The Leinster Leader would have the highest circulation and in any case, the north-county and south-county media generally ignore political and sporting figures from the other end of the county - the Nationalist is a south-county paper.. Business rates and motor tax receipts aren't 'non-trivial'? Since when? --89.101.141.253 (talk) 07:41, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Delete not enough mentions in reliable third party sources and fails WP:BIO for politicians as he holds no national or sub regional office. Valenciano (talk) 20:50, 15 April 2008 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.