Greens parachute de Burca into Dublin for European elections

THE Green Party has conceded high-profile senator Deirdre de Burca was parachuted into Dublin’s European election fight to capitalise on her colleague’s supporters rather than her own.

Party chairman Senator Dan Boyle said it decided Ms de Burca would have a better opportunity of winning a European seat in a city which was home to two Green ministers.

While the party considers one of its strongest support bases to be in the belt just beyond the Pale, Bray-based Ms de Burca was moved into Dublin to exploit the Dáil seats won in 2007.

“The vote is still stronger in Dublin. It is where we have five of our six TDs and she comes from a part of Ireland East that is closer to Dublin than anywhere else.

“I think Deirdre is a member of the parliamentary party who had an interest and the ability to contest it and I think she is a very good candidate who will put up a very good show,” Mr Boyle said.

As he announced details of the party’s weekend Ard Fheis in Wexford, Mr Boyle said the party was still expecting to nominate a person to run in Ms de Burca’s home constituency of Ireland East.

The party won European seats in the old Leinster constituency before and Mr Boyle said it had a handful of candidates in mind. He expects the party will opt in favour of contesting the constituency this June.

He said there are three considerations guiding the party’s decision: “Firstly, is there a candidate of ability? Secondly, the sharing of party resources to allow us run an effective national campaign; and the third one would be whether we feel we can achieve success, given those constraints.”

The Green Party’s three-day Ard Fheis will begin on Friday night.