14/09/2024
A Plenty of Surprises
in Politics:
But do we need to question the FF messaging?
By Anne Lucey
Politics is throwing up plenty of surprises in Kerry. Whether any of it will make for a different outcome is another story.
The smart money will be on Fine Gael to retain a seat. Sinn FΓ©in will retain their seat too. The Raes are essentially Fianna FΓ‘il. So if they want a second seat, they will have to take one off the Raes. Because there arenβt four Fianna FΓ‘il seats in Kerry.
Billy OβShea is well known and would even qualify as a celebrity candidate for Fine Gael. If he is selected he has county wide appeal on the political playing field.
Living in Killorglin and from Listowel, he will be popular in Killarney, as he is married to Emir Irwin, of the highly regarded Irwin family.
Linda Gordon is a huge surprise on a three-candidate FF ticket. She too is new to the actual political field. Her husband, sitting councillor Niall Kelleher was widely tipped.
Michael Cahill, a veteran politician is no surprise. He makes no bones about the fact a two candidate-strategy would have been better -leading one to wonder about party harmony in FF.
Still, there is a united message coming out: if Killarney wants to progress it will have to elect a second Fianna Fail.
Killarney has been unrepresented βat Government levelβfor a long time, and there had been a real βstymyingβ of major projects in Killarney from greenways to roads, Linda said on Radio Kerry. Clearly the message is there is no point electing independents.
And yes, Killarney is a backwater since John OβDonoghue (FF) lost his cabinet seat in 2007.
Except right now, there is plenty of Government representation. In Norma Foley (FF) we have a minister; we also have/had a fairly potentially powerful Government voice in Brendan Griffin(FG); Mark Daly (FF) in Kenmare is a powerful sitting senator; SeΓ‘n Kelly (FG) is a powerful MEP from the very heart of Killarney.
Therefore is there not a better case for punishing both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for how little they have done for Killarney?