THE GREEN Party has moved to distance themselves from their Fianna Fáil Coalition partners by refusing to call on their supporters to transfer their votes in the three sets of elections scheduled for June 5th.
Green Party Minister for Energy and Communications Eamon Ryan said yesterday that his party’s supporters should “make their own mind up” on who to transfer to in the European and local elections as well as the two byelections.
“I’d say look to candidates that are espousing what I’d see as that Green vision and transfer as you see fit,” said the Minister.
He said the local elections should be about getting good local representation, while the European elections were about the future for Europe and the byelections were about the future of Dublin.
“I’d actually ask people to transfer to people who have a vision for Dublin as a vibrant, green, enterprising city,” Mr Ryan told Newstalk.
A Green Party spokesman later denied the Minister had snubbed his Fianna Fáil partners in Government, saying it was in line with the way the party had always fought elections.
“There is no reason to shut down the prospect of transfers from anybody and we are not precluding anybody from transferring to Fianna Fáil,” said the spokesman. He added that the party had always been keen on local democracy and it left it up to people to make up their own minds on who to transfer to.
Fianna Fáil last night selected Shay Brennan to contest the Dublin South byelection to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father Séamus last year. Mr Brennan defeated Senator Maria Corrigan by 52 votes to 40 at the selection convention, which was held at The Goat Grill.
“Your decision to nominate me as the Fianna Fáil candidate in the Dublin South byelection is, first and foremost, a tribute to my late father Séamus,” said Mr Brennan, who added that he hoped to prove that he could carry his mantle. At the Dublin Central Fianna Fáil convention, Maurice Ahern, the older brother of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, defeated Mary Fitzpatrick by 64 votes to 17 to win the party’s nomination to contest the byelection.
Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore yesterday advised his party’s supporters to use their transfers against candidates of both Government parties on June 5th. Launching his party’s local election campaign, Mr Gilmore said Labour supporters should transfer to whichever Opposition party they saw fit.
A surprise development in the European election campaign yesterday was the decision of former Green Party MEP, Patricia McKenna, to leave the party and stand as an Independent in the Dublin constituency where she was twice elected to the parliament.
Ms McKenna said in an interview in Hot Press magazine that she felt embarrassed about being a member of the Green Party as it had failed to deliver its promises and abandoned its principles for the sake of power.
Green Party European election candidate, Senator Déirdre de Búrca, said she was not surprised that Ms McKenna had decided to quit the party. “The pity about Patricia McKenna’s move is that she did not do it at least a year ago and spare herself and her party colleagues a lot of time-wasting and strife. It has been increasingly clear that she does not share the same views on many issues with Green Party members,” she said. Ms de Búrca said Ms McKenna had for a long time offered little beyond constant criticisms which were designed to undermine her colleagues.
Former RTÉ economics editor George Lee was formally confirmed as the Fine Gael candidate for Dublin South at their selection convention for the constituency last night.