Fine Gael targets Kerry South as key strategic area

KERRY South has been pencilled in by Fine Gael strategists as a constituency where the party must win a seat in the next general election, if it is to form a government.

FG leader Enda Kenny, who visited Kerry at the weekend, said the local elections would be used as a springboard to regain the seat lost in 1989.

The party has struggled to win back the seat in every election since then, but Mr Kenny said he was heartened that they came within 300 votes of being successful in the 2002 election.

“We’ve reversed situations in other constituencies and have shown that seats can be won back with hard work and commitment,” he said.

Cllr Seamus Cosai Mac Gearailt, a FG candidate in Kerry South in the last general election, said the party had increased its overall vote in the constituency from 13% to 18.5%, since the 1997 election.

“I think we’re very close to regaining the seat. A small swing would be sufficient and I’m confident we can get it right next time,” he said.

The party is particularly weak in the Killarney electoral area, where it once held two of the six sets but now has none. Its local elections candidates, Cllr Sheila Casey and Tom Sheahan, are seen as having a difficult task.

Speaking at the launch of FG’s local election candidates in Kerry South, Mr Kenny said the candidates had the ‘bit between their teeth’ and were making an all-out effort for victory.

On the national scene, he said Fine Gael would continue to co-operate with Labour and other parties in an effort to offer an alternative government.

While in Kerry, Mr Kenny attended a function in Listowel to celebrate Deputy Jimmy Deenihan’s 21 years as a deputy.

He also met representatives of youth organisations, chambers of commerce, the IFA and ICMSA.