Ex-mayor threatens to make solo run

AN ex-Lord Mayor of Cork, allegedly “deserted” by his Fianna Fáil party, is threatening to stand in the election as an independent candidate.

Veteran councillor Dave McCarthy said he will make a decision within days. He said he was the victim of the party’s two-candidate strategy which saw TDs Noel O’Flynn and Billy Kelleher ratified for the Cork North Central constituency. The Cork city councillor fought to be added to the ticket but the party stuck to its guns and decided not to run a third candidate.

Mr McCarthy claimed there was support for him to become a TD in his native northside, where he served as a councillor for 22 years.

“I will decide in the next few days whether to run as an independent,” he said yesterday. “I could not get the nomination but I have been inundated with people wanting me to stand. They are getting annoyed that I am not standing.”

He suggested he had “stood back” in the past to facilitate fellow northsider Dan Wallace: “When he retired I thought I would get the nomination, otherwise there would be no local people standing.”

Mr McCarthy said he regretted having to take the stance away from FF, of which he has been a member all his life: “I am not deserting them — they are deserting me.”

However, Mr O’Flynn has said the figures support a two-candidate strategy as candidates had to secure 20% of first preferences or else they would struggle.