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Fine Gael Seeking ‘Celebrity’ Candidates for Dublin South By-Election
Read more about: Dublin South, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour Party 
Celebrity economists George Lee and Jim Power are both linked to running for Fine Gael in the Dublin South by-election to fill the seat vacated by the late Seamus Brennan. Jim Power instantly dismissed it, while George Lee isn’t even commenting. RTE dismissed it out of hand for him.
Other notables that are mentioned in the piece include Newstalk’s George Hook, who aside from presenting the drivetime show has also given motivational speeches for Fine Gael at their annual think-in. It was Fine Gael who dismissed that idea.
I don’t see the logic in parachuting in some sort of notable ‘celebrity’ style candidate to a by-election. I would have thought that a candidate with a strong local presence, solid canvassing behind them and a solid grasp of national issues would be much better placed in the current climate. TDs are after all local fixers in the bad times even more so than the good times. George will fix it indeed.
Fianna Fail are deeply unpopular and in a bind to take either Dublin South or Dublin Central by-elections (with Maurice Ahern being linked to the FF nomination for that post). That doesn’t open up the traps to some national notable to slot in though, it can seem hubristic to parachute in such a candidate. Fine Gael’s rating is sufficient to be confident in a head to head with Alex White, the other leadign contender from Labour.
The five seater Dublin South presents FG with the chance to take three seats (and it looks like they are trying to repeat the trick of getting John O Mahony to take a third seat in Mayo). If they want to do that then they do need to get their third person and give a good run in June. The issue with celebrity candidates is they need to win first time out, unless they are a true believer they will be unlikely to go a second time.
Maybe RTE or TV3 could run a show. I’m a celebrity get me a seat. Where people chose who to stand in the constituency.
Cian, a lot of this coverage in the media appears very cooked up to me. If I was pally with George Lee and happened to say, “Jeez George you should think about running” that would not be FG seeking him as a candidate. It would be me as an individual egging someone on. I would very much doubt that either FG or George Lee/Hook or Jim Power have given the idea more than a passing consideration. The only link they had to Jim Power was that he is due to talk to someone about the economy. What next the bloke delivering pizza to HQ is being considered?
What you have here is some purely idle (and God knows they must be idle at the Independent with the share price the way it is, and the collapse in what they usually write about, house prices, celebrities, etc) speculation by the Independent around people they think FG should be looking at and then denials from those people at they’ve given it any real thought.
My money would still be on Jim O’Leary being the candidate.
economist at NUIM Jim O Leary?
I agree with u the way the article was phrased was very much a distance thing, though it looks like Hook was the most tenuous of the lot. If Jim is in the running the other two are likely to have been sounded out.
Cllr Jim O’Leary. I think the economist at NUIM leans more in the Left direction, or I could have that wrong.