FOUR FIANNA Fáil Seanad candidates not on the list publicly endorsed by party leader Micheál Martin have received nominations from Oireachtas members.
When the nominations for the 43 seats on five vocational panels closed at noon yesterday, former TDs Margaret Conlon of Cavan-Monaghan and Eamon Scanlon of Sligo-North Leitrim, who lost their seats in the February election, succeeded in getting nominations from Oireachtas members despite not being on the official list Mr Martin has asked voters to give their highest preferences to.
Outgoing Senator Martin Brady (63), who lost his Dáil seat in 2007, is also on the list, having been nominated by Independents Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South) and Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South), along with Senators Ivor Callely and Mary White.
Senator Diarmuid Wilson (45) succeeded in getting a nomination from outgoing senators John Carty, John Ellis and taoiseach’s nominee Eoghan Harris.
Mr Martin’s list included 10 candidates, six of whom were confirmed as TD and senator nominees yesterday. Four others were nominated by outside bodies, when nominations closed on March 11th. The Fianna Fáil strategy to select younger party members was rejected by most longstanding Senators, but for the first time two Independent candidates have also been nominated.
Mr Brady said: “Councillors will make up their own minds about who to vote for, regardless of whether they’re on a list or not. In fact being on a list might be a disadvantage. Councillors fear they will be next to be asked not to stand because of their age. But their view is that, ‘if you’re a fool at 21 you’ll be a fool at 71’.”
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said, however, that “there isn’t a set Fianna Fáil list”.
The list of 10 included those publicly endorsed by the leader but since that list was published other party members had also been successfully nominated by Oireachtas members and outside nominating bodies.
Independent TDs and Senators have nominated two candidates for the Seanad election. Francis Donnelly, a businessman and accountant from Kilcullen, Co Kildare, was nominated by Independent TDs Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow-East Carlow), Shane Ross (Dublin South), Thomas Pringle (Donegal South-West) and Mick Wallace (Wexford).
Independent senators have only ever been elected to the university panels and not to the five panels elected by members of the outgoing Seanad, incoming Dáil and city and county councillors, an electorate of about 1,000. Mr McGrath said: “There’s a glorious opportunity for Independents to put more Independent senators into the Seanad.”
Former TD for Meath East Thomas Byrne, one of Mr Martin’s chosen candidates, has been nominated, as has Senator Darragh O’Brien (Dublin North) who, after he lost his Dáil seat in the February election, was appointed a senator by former taoiseach Brian Cowen in his last days in office.
Green Party Senator and party chairman Dan Boyle is also among the candidates and joins Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin, who got an “outside” nomination.
Former Fine Gael TDs Deirdre Clune (Cork South-Central), Michael DArcy (Wexford) and Tom Sheahan (Kerry South), who were surprise losers to party colleagues in the Dáil election, are among the Fine Gael nominees.
Labour TDs have nominated six party candidates including Sligo-North Leitrim Dáil candidate Susan O’Keeffe and John Whelan from Portlaoise, both journalists, and Councillor Jimmy Harte, son of former Fine Gael Donegal North-East TD Paddy Harte.
Sinn Féin nominated three candidates: Galway West Dáil candidate Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Kathryn Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan) and David Cullinane (Waterford).
