Sinnott: Lisbon was my downfall

KATHY SINNOTT suggested a campaign had been orchestrated against her following the Lisbon treaty referendum defeat last summer, after losing her seat as an MEP to Labour’s Senator Alan Kelly last night.

She said that someone had approached her in the European Parliament a fortnight after the Irish vote against the treaty, which she had opposed a year ago this week, and said to her that a decision had been made to take her out.

Asked if she felt that might have been something to do with her defeat, after receiving 31,000 fewer first preferences than in 2004, she replied: “Who knows if that had anything to do with it, I don’t know.”

“It’s something I was told in the parliament, I won’t go back over it. I have no idea, I wasn’t told who. It was something I was told, a meeting had been held and I would not be allowed [to go on],” she added.

She said she had served the Munster constituency proudly for the past five years and would not be going away. However, she refused to speculate about possibly trying for another Dáil seat, after her nail-biting loss to Fianna Fáil’s John Dennehy for the last seat in Cork South Central in 2002.

“All I’m thinking about now is just my staff, I’m worried about their future. I’m now simply a voter myself and I wish the new MEPs all the best,” she said.

After finally getting over the line at almost 9pm, new Labour Party MEP Alan Kelly paid tribute to the team who had campaigned for him, having claimed 13% of all first preferences in last Friday’s vote.

The 33-year-old from Portroe, Co Tipperary, was elected a senator in 2007 and his victory last night gives Labour a European Parliament seat for the region for the first time since Eileen Desmond was elected for Munster in 1979.

“I’m thrilled for the party, thrilled for the party leader and thrilled most importantly for the members and the workers in the party. They’ve done a fantastic job and to win a seat at the end of it, it shows all the hard work has paid off for them,” he said.

Mr Kelly described the result as the icing on the cake for the party, given that Ireland South was such a tough and competitive constituency.

“I think people want a change and tonight signals a new era for Irish politics, the Labour Party has three MEPs, it’s an absolutely fantastic night for us,” he said.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the result and the rest of the local council outcomes sent a clear signal to the Government that it is time to step down and call a general election.

“The Government needs to assert the will of the people shown very clearly last Friday, and do the honourable thing by letting the people of the country decide who should be running the affairs of the nation,” he said.

The race came to an end almost exactly 36 hours after counting began at Cork’s Neptune Stadium, with most observers suggesting as late as lunchtime yesterday that Kelly would be beaten by strong transfers between Sinnott and Ferris, whichever one was the last woman standing.

But in the end, Toireasa Ferris gave Kelly a bigger boost than she did to Sinnott, giving him a margin close to 10,500 in the end.

The day started with the transfer of Green Party senator Dan Boyle’s 15,500 votes and next the 16,000-plus votes of Fianna Fáil’s Ned O’Keeffe, bringing Sinnott closer all the time to catching up on an overnight deficit of close to 4,000. It was all to play for as teatime approached, following the election of Brian Crowley and Fine Gael’s Sean Kelly, with the latter’s surplus bringing the Independent outgoing MEP ahead of Ferris at the last gasp.

While most expected a much closer result, it was clear by 8pm as the transfer bundles for Sinnott and Alan Kelly were mounting up, however, that the first-time European candidate would be taking his place in Brussels.