Thursday, October 15, 2015

EMOTIONS ARE running high in New Ross this week over the issue of whether or not the town has been shafted by Fianna Fail in this year’s General Election selection convention.

Such is the level of anger over the issue that the party is effectively in turmoil in the town.

Cllr. Michael Sheehan looks like being the most prominent party candidate set to lose out at the convention as a result of the approach taken by the party.

Traditionally, there has been a Fianna Fail north south divide in Wexford in terms of selecting General Election candidates, however, this year the party’s National Constituencies Committee adopted an East West approach and such is the anger felt in New Ross over that decision that some members of the New Ross Fianna Fail Cumann are strongly considering handing in their resignation.

New Ross has always been linked with Wexford and Gorey with Enniscorthy but this time around the Gorey LEA and Wexford LEA were bundled together as District 1 with only one candidate being considered in that constituency, Cllr. Malcolm Byrne.

District 2 is comprised of the New Ross and Ennniscorthy LEAs and for that region there were four candidates: Cllrs. James Browne, Barbara Anne Murphy, Michael Sheehan and Michael Whelan.

As expected it was Cllr. James Browne that got the nomination at the convention.

Party sources told the Echo that the NCC said in a letter to members that the candidate strategy will be kept under review, however, Cllr. James Browne was always likely to have formidable backing within the party from both a heritage perspective and his work as a sitting councillor.

Of the candidates who lost out Cllr. Michael Sheehan is the longest standing Fianna Fail member and under the old divide would have been the one arguably most likely to garner the support of the party faithful and the electorate.

The fact there is a division within Fianna Fail in New Ross is no secret but many people feel that the party has effectively ‘shafted’ the town and district entirely this time around.

When contacted about the matter by the Echo, Cllr. Sheehan didn’t go so far as to say the area was of no consequence to the party but he did express disappointment at how the division was made.

“The New Ross, Wexford area would constitute 60 per cent of the people and it just defies logic why it’s been divided up the way it has,” he said.

“I am upset at the fact that over 50 years of history has been overturned,” he added.

While the town itself has not always returned a TD for over 25 years the New Ross area has been represented in Dail Eireann but there is a very real possibility under the new divide that representation will end and that will be very bad news for an area that has often felt left abandoned.

Cllr. Sheehan was critical of the fact that the party members only received the letter informing them about the district division on Thursday.

When asked what he thought was behind the new look strategy Cllr. Sheehan said he couldn’t see any logic in it.

“I fail to see how a strategy like this will get votes from New Ross,” he said.

In that regard Cllr. Sheehan might be right because politics is very parochial – even national politics – and there is little doubt that both Cllr. Sheehan and Cllr. Michael Whelan would have been hoping to pick up a large percentage of votes at convention in a Wexford – New Ross partnership.

“In the New Ross and Wexford areas Fianna Fail is 60 per cent of the population so I fail to see the rationale of not having a [party] candidate in this area when there is no other [real opposition] and only two independent candidates,” said Cllr. Sheehan.

He also said the feedback he was getting over the last few weeks indicated he was going to get a lot of support from Wexford in addition to his traditional core support in New Ross.

“Prior to Thursday I was confident, if they had gone North-South, I would have comfortably taken the nomination,” he said.

However, he also urged caution on the ground – especially with regard to party members considering resigning from Cumann committees.

“It’s a process and it’s ongoing,” he said.

“This is just the first part of a process and the NCC has said the candidate strategy will be kept under review.”

He went on to comment: “I fail to see how they will get a Fianna Fail vote out when they have overlooked one of their own.”

The members of the Wexford Cumann decided to boycott the convention and instead sent a three-person delegation.

“They have less than two weeks to sign off on the final ticket,” said Cllr. Sheehan.

“Tonight [Monday] is only the first step in that process.

He agreed that many people will view the situation as that of New Ross getting ‘shafted’.

He wouldn’t be drawn on whether or not he would run as an independent Fianna Fail candidate if the situation remained unchanged.

“Well, I’m not going to jump up and down just because I don’t get my own way,” he said.

“This is a process and let’s not pre-empt anything,” he added.

“I have served the people of New Ross for 20 years and I love my town and my county and I will do anything I can to make sure they have representation but there is a process at play.”

He went on to comment: “I will not jump up and down and say if I don’t get what I want I am quitting. We’ll see what happens in the days ahead.”
Hugh Byrne:

 

Former TD, Hugh Byrne, who endorsed Cllr. Sheehan’s bid to get the Fianna Fail nomination said the decision to split the county in the manner it has done was “typical Fianna Fail”.

“At the end of the day the party is only concerned with securing two seats and it doesn’t care whose toes it steps on to do that,” he said.

“In my time when there was a convention there was a massive turn up but that will not be the case this time,” he added.

“Fianna Fail is looking at the bigger picture and they want to get two seats and they are not worried about who they upset.”

Mr. Byrne added that “it’s likely” they will add a third candidate at the later stage, however, that will have to be female for gender balance and there is no guarantee that will be Cllr. Barbara Anne Murphy – who was also among the candidates on Monday night.

Mr. Byrne praised Cllr. Sheehan who he described as “a fantastic worker”.

“He is from a New Ross area that has a poor record of getting TDs elected,” he said.

“In the last 90 years to have representation for 27 years is a poor return,” he added.

He also said the New Ross district needed to be more united: “If the New Ross district had been more united we might have gotten Michael through.”

However, Mr. Byrne went on to comment: “Politics is about parties not individuals – that’s if you’re involved with a party.”

Cllr. Michael Whelan was unavailable to comment on the matter prior to the Echo going to press.