Grassroots activists revolt over candidate selection

GRASSROOTS activists have risen up against Fianna Fáil headquarters to demand greater input into candidate selections.

Cumainn from across the country are angry at a policy of picking candidates for June’s local election by interview instead of local convention. Headquarters wanted to break the stranglehold traditional networks had on the local selection process and devised a system designed to introduce new blood to town and city councils. But at an Ard Fheis debate the cumainn passed motions, ordering the party to think again.

Sean Holt from Dublin north-west said delegates were angry at how headquarters had taken complete control of the selection process. “It was clear that there was a lot of disquiet among members about the interview process and the lack of input at local level...

it is going to have to be reviewed,” he said.

The first motion decided local organisations should get greater autonomy.

Paddy Kelly from Howth won backing for another seeking a complete review of the process.

A separate proposal was backed by a long list of groups and tabled by Paddy Hayes from Dublin north-east. It made it party policy to keep local organisations as the predominant means of making nominations, although recognised the system needed to be reformed.

Then a row broke out over motion number nine, put forward by the University College Cork cumann.

The cumann claimed the Ard Fheis committee had watered down the motion’s wording, which demanded stricter rules on who can vote in local conventions.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen sat in on the Friday night debate. As members voiced their concerns, he said he sympathised with them.

He promised the system of selection will be reviewed after the June election, regardless of the outcome.

He said it was something the party was trying out to see if could it improve its performance. They suffered heavy seat losses in the 2004 local elections.

In recent weeks, general secretary Sean Dorgan has had to defuse situations in Limerick and Wexford. Similar spats led to defections and drop outs in west Kerry, Kilkenny and Meath.

The party’s interview team of Mr Dorgan, Tanáiste Mary Coughlan and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey had opted for a fresh-face strategy in the interview process.

It means, of the candidates for the June elections already selected, 40% have never run for office before.

In another development the delegates opted to put term limits on the governing committee of the party, the ard chomhairle, to ensure decision-making did not rely on the same constituency delegates.