Cowen rallies behind ‘lagging’ FF candidate

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen last night attempted to curtail speculation that Fianna Fáil had given up hope on its North Kildare by-election candidate, Aine Brady, by insisting she still had a chance of winning.

Ms Brady, the sister of Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt, is thought to be lagging behind Independent Catherine Murphy and Labour candidate Paddy McNamara in the running for the seat vacated by Mr Cowen’s predecessor, Charlie McCreevy.

Polling takes place on Friday, the same day as the by-election in Meath, and Fianna Fáil has had to deny repeatedly that it has shifted its focus towards the latter.

There, party candidate Shane Cassells is involved in a two-way race with Fine Gael’s Shane McEntee for John Bruton’s old seat, and appears to have a reasonable chance of winning, in contrast with Ms Brady’s situation in North Kildare.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern spent a couple of hours canvassing with Ms Brady yesterday evening in a bid to boost her chances. This was followed by Mr Cowen’s insistence that a by-election victory was not beyond her.

“Aine Brady is clearly in the running to take this seat on Friday,” said Mr Cowen, who is FF director of elections for North Kildare.

Conscious that transfers will play a crucial role in determining the successful candidate, Mr Cowen added: “If people are committed to another candidate, we respect that. In those cases, I ask people to consider giving their number two preference to Aine Brady.”

Fine Gael, meanwhile, will launch its bid to rescue their North Kildare candidate, Darren Scully, when party leader Enda Kenny brings his front bench to Naas to canvass today.

Mr Scully is thought to be a distant fourth in the running as the campaign enters its final phase.

It is the second time in a matter of days that Fine Gael has attempted to show strength in depth in a bid to secure votes. Last Thursday, the front bench was in Navan, Co Meath, to support Mr McEntee.

The eight candidates in North Kildare will squeeze in a few hours of canvassing today amid a busy schedule of media appearances.

Ms Murphy, Ms Brady, Mr McNamara and Mr Scully will be joined by Gerry Browne (Independent Labour), Senan Ó Coistin (Independent republican), JJ Power (Greens) and Kathleen Walsh (PDs) in a two-hour debate on local radio this morning, followed by appearances on television and radio news programmes.