FF-FG stranglehold under intense pressure

WITH more than 20 years experience of campaigning on rural issues, noted community activist Brigid O’Connor is determined to break the FF-FG stranglehold on council seats in the Dingle area.

Her candidacy is one of the main talking points in the three-seater where the mother-of-three is hoping, at a third attempt, to be elected as an Independent to Kerry County Council.

A sheep farmer, Brigid O’Connor was edged out of a seat by only 62 votes five years ago. In the meantime, she has raised her profile and, locally, she is seen as having an improved chance of securing a seat.

Voting patterns are traditional, with FF and FG between them gobbling up 76% of the vote in 2004. FF got 43% and FG just over 33% so it’s not easy for Independents, or smaller parties, to break the mould.

A surprise is quite possible this time, nevertheless.

At present, two seats in the Dingle area are held by FF councillors Michael O’Shea and Breandán Mac Gearailt with the third occupied by Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald of FG.

Mr Mac Gearailt is retiring and has been replaced on the FF ticket by Brendan Fitzgerald from Dingle town.

Being the son of former FF senator Tom Fitzgerald and having acted as a constituency assistant to Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue, Fitzgerald junior has an impeccable FF pedigree.

However, this is his first election and, with the public in angry mood towards the Government, he is faced with a tough battle to hold the FF seat.

Another factor is that Dingle town and surrounds are more crowded this time, with candidates such as Labour’s Pat Hannafin and Sinn Féin’s Teresa Rafter Moriarty vying for votes with FF. Mr Hannafin recently left the FF party and it will be interesting to see how many votes he has managed to bring with him.

Mr O’Shea, a publican and auctioneer in Milltown, headed the poll in 2004, just short of the quota with 23% of the overall vote. This time he is helped by the redrawing of the electoral area, which brings in an extra 500 voters to his side of the area.

Fine Gael, with Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald and the up-and-coming Brendan Griffin on the ticket, should hold their seat. Mr Griffin must have a chance of winning a second seat for FG.

It could be a three-way battle for the third seat between Mr Griffin, Brendan Fitzgerald and Ms O’Connor. Mr Griffin, who polled 1,044 first preference votes, about half a quota, last time, is upbeat about his chances. But, he needs to improve his vote considerably to be in with a shout.

Ms O’Connor has a geographical advantage in that she is seen as a strong locally-based candidate in the eastern side of the electoral area. She lives in fabled Gleann na nGealt close to the Camp and Castlegregory districts, base of former Independent councillor James Courtney.

She says she’s being “lifted” each day on the canvass, such is the positive response she is getting on the doorsteps.

“I doubled my vote in 2004 and more people are saying to me now that they’ll give me the vote this time. I’m getting a wonderful reception,” she says.

Over the past 20 years, Ms O’Connor has campaigned strongly on rural life, roads and health issues. In 2000, after exhausting all local and national avenues for funding to upgrade the notorious N86 Tralee/Dingle road, she petitioned the EU on behalf of the West Kerry Roads Action Group.

She twice addressed the European Parliament and got a commitment from the EU Commission to put pressure on the Irish Government and the National Roads Authority to provide more roads funding for the peninsula.

Prediction: FF 1, FG 1, Independent 1