A Fianna Fáil election candidate has caused a row by saying he will not be asking his supporters to give second- and third-preference votes to party colleagues.
Senator M.J. Nolan, who opened his campaign at the weekend, will encourage Carlow people to vote for other Carlow-based candidates rather than transfer them to other Fianna Fáil candidates in Kilkenny.
He is doing so because of the "unique circumstances" which could see Carlow without a TD in the next Dáil, he told The Irish Times. "If people in Carlow put party before county it will merely mean the Carlow-based candidates will be used in a supporting role to their Kilkenny-based colleagues," he said.
His strategy came as a surprise yesterday to his running mates, Mr Liam Aylward and Mr John McGuinness, the two sitting Fianna Fáil TDs in Carlow-Kilkenny, who are both Kilkenny-based.
Mr Aylward said it would be a sad day when Fianna Fáil candidates did not support the party ticket. "That's traditionally the way it has always been done."
Mr McGuinness said he would be asking voters to support the Fianna Fáil candidates and he expected Mr Nolan to do the same.
Mr Nolan said he had not discussed his stance with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, or others at party headquarters.
"It is my own strategy", he said.
However, at his campaign launch on Friday night, attended by senior party figures including Mr Noel Dempsey, Mr Martin Mackin and Mr P.J. Mara, he made the Carlow theme of his campaign explicit.
"This is a time when all the people of this county must be as one and must ensure they vote for a Carlow candidate," he said.
He also announced that his campaign slogan would be "Vote Carlow, Vote M.J." . The election, he said, was the most important in the history of Carlow politics.
The prospect of Carlow being without a TD was heightened by the decision of the county's only current Dáil representative, Mr John Browne, to retire at the next election.
His son, Fergal, a member of Carlow UDC, hopes to retain the seat for the party but faces a difficult task.
The party has employed an excellent vote-management strategy in the past to get Mr Browne snr elected alongside Mr Phil Hogan.
This time, with the constituency effectively reduced to a four-seater due to the automatic re-election of the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Séamus Pattison, the race will be one of the tightest ever.
Mr Aylward and Mr Hogan, who were both elected on the first count in 1997, are strongly fancied to hold their seats. Mr McGuinness and Mr Nolan, whose supporters have developed an intense rivalry, will fight for the second Fianna Fáil seat.
Mr Browne, Labour's Mr Jim Townsend or the party's other candidate, yet to be announced, and the Green Party deputy leader, Ms Mary White, could all be in contention for the final seat.
