New kid in town ruffles incumbents

FIANNA Fáil candidates are proving to be their own worst enemies in Cork North West.

The redrawing of boundaries since 2002 brought Ballincollig into the mix — and in swooped Batt O’Keefe from Cork South Central.

The minister of state joins a constituency where colleagues Michael Moynihan and Donal Moynihan already hold seats.

All agree three into two does not go, and in less than a fortnight, at least one will lose out.

There is anger among the incumbents at the lack of direction from FF headquarters and the free rein given to the minister to target both their support bases.

In canvassing, the Moynihans successfully bisected the constituency in 2002.

Michael took the north and Donal patrolled the south, split roughly along the lines of the old Butter Road between Cork and Kerry.

They had been waiting for guidance from headquarters for a three-way divide, giving Batt the section near the city, but it never came.

“It is a very high-risk strategy and Fianna Fáil head office has done no service to the constituency in how it has handled it,” said Michael Moynihan.

“It could put the second seat in danger. It was a second seat we won 10 years ago and retained five years ago and, after this, we could end up with only one.”

His namesake in the south of the constituency is of a similar opinion.

“It does not make sense the party has put the seats at risk,” Donal Moynihan said.

With the status that the office of junior minister offers, Batt O’Keeffe has a larger profile in almost all respects — the majority of his election posters are twice as many square inches as those of his rivals.

On Thursday last, Mr O’Keeffe was in Macroom, sharing the streets with Donal Moynihan. The two men and their supporters canvassed separately. Mr O’Keeffe’s wife is from the town and he will be hoping to poll well in what is, politically, alien territory.

“When the boundaries were redrawn, Ballincollig was put into this constituency. That’s 23,000 people — it would be wrong for me not to represent them or to go away and join another constituency,” Mr O’Keefe said.