DECLAN GANLEY:LIBERTAS FOUNDER and businessman Declan Ganley has said that "savvy" Independent candidates could provide a "backbone implant" for Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
Mr Ganley has also described both mortgage debt and the abortion issue as the “elephants in the room” in the election campaign.
He was commenting yesterday on his formal endorsement of Mayo Independent candidate Martin Daly, and his support for several others in separate constituencies.
Mr Ganley said he and Mr Daly were in agreement that bank debt must be separated from the “legitimate” debts of the State.
He also believed that abortion, which Mr Daly opposed, was the “elephant in the room” in his area of the west. Mortgage debt was a similar “elephant”.
Mr Daly, a Ballina-based teacher, is part of the New Vision grouping of Independent candidates. He worked on Mr Ganley’s 2009 European election campaign, and is involved with the Mayo Pro-Life Group.
Mr Ganley is also informally supportive of three other Independents: his former campaign manager John McGuirk, running in Cavan-Monaghan; Paul Sommerville in Dublin South East; and Kate Bopp in Tipperary North.
“They are all saying the right things in terms of Ireland decoupling from the bank debt, which is an enormous issue facing us – with no political party providing credible solutions,” Mr Ganley said.
He said he had decided not to run himself as he believed Irish people were not yet ready for the political change required to deal with the current crisis, and were opting for a replacement government similar to Fianna Fáil.
He did not rule out standing in a future general election, and said he believed the one after this would prove to be far more important.