Fine Gael select O'Neill
Fine Gael selected Ballyshannon-based county councillor Barry O'Neill to contest the yet to be announced by-election for Donegal South West at a well attended convention last night in Glenties.
O'Neill, who had been the favourite to win the nomination, is an RTE sports broadcaster and takes the nomination just seven days after his former colleague, George Lee, walked off the political stage.
Should he be successful, it will be the first time since the 1949 by-election which saw Pa O'Donnell win a seat, that the Fine Gael party will have two TDs in Donegal south west.
O'Neill defeated fellow councillor Martin Harley in a two way contest when the third nominee, town councillor Brendan Travers withdrew from the contest. No indication of O'Neill's margin of victory over Harley was given.
At the convention Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny attacked Donegal-based Tnaiste Mary Coughlan's failure to come to an agreement with Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary over jobs at Dublin airport.
"If Tnaiste Coughlan is paralysed and irrelevant to this conversation then perhaps the Taoiseach should take the bull by the horns and sort this out in the interests of highly paid jobs which are much more important than political egos," Kenny said when he revealed he had spoken at length last night to Michael O'Leary.
He said with 21,000 people unemployed and the third highest rate of youth unemployment in the country, a by-election was long overdue in Donegal. "This is a county that has been neglected and forgotten. This by-election, whenever it is held, and I hope it is held soon, will be a referendum on the record of this government in terms of its commitment to this county which has been left forgotten, neglected and isolated. Fine Gael have serious plans to redress this," he said.
Nominated candidate Barry O'Neill continued the attack on Deputy Mary Coughlan, stating that she had failed the people of the county and the time had now come for Fianna Fil to be taken out of power.
He said Donegal businesses had been damaged by the trading difficulties with their proximity to the border. He listed job losses over the years at various factories, while he said the Fianna Fil track record on health was a disgrace.
He said he believed he was the best option for the party to win a seat, adding he was "willing, ready and able".
In a wide ranging and often fiery address, where he said Fianna Fil representatives at Dail and local level had failed the people of Donegal. He said he would put people back into politics and quoting Michael Collins, he said: "Give us the future, we have had enough of your past, give us back our country to grow in, to live in and to love."
Meanwhile, two Fianna Fil Ministers have suggested that a by-election in Donegal south west is still a long way off. Deputies Mary Hanafin and Mary Coughlan have both suggested that the writ may not be moved until much later in the year, if at all.
See Thursday's Democrat for a full report on Monday night's convention.
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Weather for Donegal
Thursday 17 May 2012
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