Collins supports Munster carve-up
Sports Minister John O'Donoghue defended the divide, which he was involved in putting together as FF director of elections, after it was backed by the party's ruling body.
But the divide of the redrafted South constituency was not accepted unanimously by the FF national executive at its meeting on Thursday night.
Stressing that the division was not a solution imposed by him, the minister said it was proposed by a party strategy team and was ratified by a majority vote after being put to the FF national executive.
Speaking on Radio Kerry yesterday, Mr O'Donoghue said it was believed the divide was an appropriate strategy to adopt to try to win two seats in Munster, because the number of seats was reduced from four to three and Clare was removed from the constituency. The goal was to manage the vote to get both candidates coming in at similar levels.
In the 1999 election, Mr Crowley received an astounding 154,195 first preference votes representing 1.7 quotas. With 83,106 votes, Mr Collins was just under 7,000 votes off the quota, but with the constituency changes, the quota this year is expected to rise to about 110,000 votes. Responding to the drafting of the divide yesterday, Mr Collins said he unreservedly accepted the decision.
"You have to abide by the national executive and the director of elections."
Fianna Fáil holds its selection convention today in the North-West, where MEP Seán Ó Neachtáin refuses to stand aside to give Frank Fahey and James McDaid a clear run.
