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Meanwhile in Clare…
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Fianna Fáil delegates in Clare have selected Senator Timmy Dooley and Minister of State Tony Killeen TD as candidates in the constituency for the next general election.
With four candidates and only two spots up for grabs, it was always going to be a nerve-wracking night for the candidates. And so it proved to be. Timmy Dooley topped the poll and was elected after the first count, with Tony Killeen elected on the third count. No place then for high-profile Senator Brendan Daly or Councillor Pat Hayes.
In light of the directive from Fianna Fáil HQ that only two candidates be selected at convention and with rumours doing the rounds of a possible third candidate being parachuted in at a later date, delegates were urged to take up their grievances within the Cummann and not via the media. The request seemed to have worked with the voting being carried out in a dignified manner and without protest.
Wednesday’s Irish Times
Senator warns FF after losing out
Gordon Deegan
05/04/2006
Fianna Fáil’s national constituency committee has been accused of “losing the plot” in its strategy of trying to secure a third seat in Clare in next year’s general election.
Senator Brendan Daly made the charge yesterday after he lost out at Fianna Fáil’s Clare selection convention on Monday in Ennis.
Delegates voted for Senator Timmy Dooley and Minister for State Tony Killeen to run for the party.
Last Thursday the party’s national constituency committee, chaired by Finance Minister Brian Cowen, ruled that two candidates, and not three as originally intended, be selected at convention, with a third to be added by party headquarters later.
However, the move resulted in newcomer Senator Timmy Dooley topping the poll with 170 votes from a poll of 440.
Mr Killeen said yesterday: “There was a lot of anger from what is seen by a lot of delegates as interference by Dublin in the business of the county in selecting people.”
Mr Killeen was elected on the third count having secured 122 first preferences, with Senator Daly receiving 105 votes and Cllr Pat Hayes receiving 43 votes.
Speaking yesterday after the convention, Senator Daly said that if the committee “had a strategy to win additional seats in Clare, they have certainly lost the plot on this one”.
The west Clare-based Senator said: “It has now left a sizeable part of Clare without a representative on the ticket, and the result of that in my view is that we will be handing a second seat to Fine Gael if the party does not deal with that.”
First elected to the Dáil in 1973, he said: “There was a very violent reaction from delegates to the committee’s move. It is a bad start for the committee, and now they have to look at the result and see where they go from here.”
He confirmed he had received soundings from party officials to go on the ticket.
“It is something that I will consider, and I will do whatever is in the best interests of the party.”
However he added: “I feel that my prospects of securing a seat have been damaged by what took place on Monday night.”
At the count Mr Hayes, in a reference to the move by the national constituency committee to reduce the number to be selected from three to two, told delegates: “What happened last week caused great concern and there was a reaction to it.”
First elected to the Seanad in 2002, Senator Dooley yesterday backed moves to add Senator Daly to the party “ticket”.
He said: “If there is any sanity amongst the committee that make these decisions, and I’m sure there is, Brendan Daly will be on the ticket very, very shortly.”
Mr Killeen told delegates that the previous time he was beaten at convention he was subsequently added to the ticket and topped the poll in the 1992 general election.
In next year’s general election Fianna Fáil will be seeking to add a third seat to the two occupied by Mr Killeen and Minister Síle de Valera who is retiring.
© The Irish Times
I wondered how long the peace and harmony would last. Not too long it appears :).
Three seats from two…..A Minister for Finance is usually expected to have the ability to count.
What’s the problem? Daly will be added to the ticket and Pat Hayes has been neutralized. Allowing three delegates to go from Convention ran the risk of both Timmy Dooley and Pat Hayes (both from East Clare) being selected, leaving the party poorly positioned to keep two never mind regain 3 seats.
Singer clearly has little understanding of how the democratic process works….it is carried out properly by a local organisation….not by a caucus group in Dublin meeting, surrepticiously, 24 hours before a local convention…and chaired by a Minister with responsibility for de-cenralisation who is unable to get Fas to go to his own constituency. Mc Creevy would have successfully completed that task by now but,of course he was a threat to the “Golden Circle” which, thankfully, is now crumbling rapidly. Hopefully Fianna Fail will soon be returned to its rightful owners, the ordinary people of the country.