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Mary Fitzpatrick Accuses Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fail of ‘Sabotaging’ Her Campaign
Read more about: Dublin Central, Fianna Fail, Irish Election, Irish Politics 
Looks like those who listen to Radio 1 once Dave is over are in for a treat. At 8 o’clock tonight, a documentary which followed three female candidates in Dublin Central will air. It follows Fianna Fail candidate Mary Fitzpatrick (lost), Green Party’s Patricia McKenna and Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald. It seems like it could be fun listening for those of us suffering from election detox. In the documentary Fitzpatrick says “I never thought they’d do me any favours. I thought my insurance policy was that they needed the second seat. So I didn’t think they’d go out to completely undermine me and shaft me.”
This is followed by a picture of just how dirty things got in the internal fight for the second Fianna Fail seat. Fitzpatrick did a blitz on houses before polling day asking for a number one, this was met by a counter-blitz from Bertie’s team who distributed letters at 4 a.m. on polling day asking for Bertie #1 and Cyprian Brady #2. Fitzpatrick says FF wanted to “hammer” her while Bertie’s election agent Chris Wall is far more pragmatic (and ruthless) in his appraisal. More here and here.
The story I heard, and this from a source I trust implicitly who tells me he heard it from the horse’s mouth, is that Dermot Fitzpatrick threatened to invoke his right (under party rules) as a sitting TD to be automatically re-selected unless his daughter was put on the ticket. So there was never any support for her candidacy at HQ and the question wasn’t whether they were going to “shaft” her, but how.
So all that stuff from Cyprian Brady about the letter being sent because of her flyer was, well, bullshit? FF has supplied some spectacular infights during this election. Politics really is a blood sport.
The shafting of Mary Fitzpatrick Cllr was well orchestrated and did not come about as a result of Mary Fitzpatrick’s leaflet drop 2 or 3 days before the election as Chris Wall claims.
About 10 days before D Day 2 middle aged men in dark suits knocked at doors around Dublin Central and in particular around the Navan Road Cabra area where Mary Fitzpatrick expected enough 1st preference votes to get elected.
One man knocked and introduced himself “FF part of Bertie’s team”, the other man “grunted” names read out from the register checking whether the names on the register still matched the place of residence.
The purpose of the excercise was to identify registered householders and the number of leaflets to be dropped at the door (not in the letter box and believed to be in the 10s of the thousand).
The canning plan was to dwarf as many as possible Mary Fitzpatrick’s number 1 in her area (expected at upwards of 2800 in Cabra/Navan Road). Bertie’s “important notice” leaflet drop urging FF voters to choose C. Brady as the preferred number 2 ahead of Fitzpatrick did the trick.
The general election “shafting” was merely a repeat of the local election but then Bertie’s team could not stop her from being elected.
The shafting of Mary Fitzpatrick Cllr was well orchestrated and did not come about as a result of Mary Fitzpatrick’s leaflet drop 2 or 3 days before the election as Chris Wall claims.
About 10 days before D Day 2 middle aged men in dark suits knocked at doors around Dublin Central and in particular around the Navan Road Cabra area where Mary Fitzpatrick expected enough 1st preference votes to get elected.
One man knocked and introduced himself “FF part of Bertie’s team”, the other man “grunted” names read out from the register checking whether the names on the register still matched the place of residence.
The purpose of the excercise was to identify registered householders and the number of leaflets to be dropped at the door (not in the letter box).
The sheer number of leaflets dropped are believed to be as high as 30,000. This number alone implies very good planning. Printing (good quality paper), gathering of leaflets, getting enough foot soldiers to drop the leaflets in the middle of night, cars, etc.
The canning plan was to dwarf as many as possible Mary Fitzpatrick’s number 1 in her area (expected at upwards of 2800 in Cabra/Navan Road). Bertie’s “important notice” leaflet drop urging FF voters to choose C. Brady as the preferred number 2 ahead of Fitzpatrick did the trick.
The general election “shafting” was merely a repeat of the local election but then Bertie’s team could not stop her from being elected.