Ahern’s turf to host tight battle

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s constituency of Dublin Central will be among the tightest and most divisive in the general election, following Fianna Fáil’s weekend decision to field three candidates and yesterday’s by Patricia McKenna that she will stand for the Green Party there.

The four-seat constituency is already one of the most marginal in the country - Dr Dermot Fitzpatrick (FF) had only 79 votes to spare when winning the last seat from Sinn Féin’s Nicky Kehoe in 2002.

Mary Lou McDonald, the high-profile Sinn Féin MEP, has already declared as a candidate.

She is expected to be better at picking up transfers than Mr Kehoe, who, despite getting almost 5,000 first preference, failed to attract sufficient transfers.

And the arrival of former MEP Ms McKenna (who lost her European seat in 2004) will also have a profound effect on the complexion of the constituency.

At a selection convention on Saturday that lasted only 40 minutes, the Taoiseach; Dr Fitzpatrick’s daughter Cllr Mary Fitzpatrick, and Mr Ahern’s constituency manager, Senator Cyprian Brady, were chosen as the three Fianna Fáil candidates.

Five had originally sought nominations, but two candidates, Tom Stafford and Chris Wall, both withdrew. It meant that the three candidates were selected without a vote.

In a statement yesterday, Ms McKenna said she and her family live in the constituency and said she would campaign on public transport, housing, and social issues.

Her party leader, Trevor Sargent, said she was a strong candidate who would “hold Mr Ahern accountable for all the promises he has failed to deliver on in his term in office”.

The two other sitting TDs are Labour’s justice spokesman, Joe Costello, and independent deputy Tony Gregory.

The late Jim Mitchell lost Fine Gael’s only seat here in 2002. Its candidate is Cllr Paschal Donoghue.

Meanwhile, sitting TDs Michael Smith and Máire Hoctor were also nominated as Fianna Fail’s candidates in the three-seater Tipperary North constituency during the weekend.