Greens win key concession from FF on Senate nomination

THE Green Party has browbeaten a key concession from Fianna Fáil earning the right to nominate a former councillor as one of two new senators.

Galway man Niall O’Brolcháin was endorsed by the National Executive of the party on Saturday as its Seanad candidate.

He will be the only Government nominee for the vacant seat on the Agriculture Panel, all but guaranteeing his ticket to Leinster House.

Mr O’Brolcháin said, while he was glad to have his name put forward, he was taking nothing for granted.

Two Seanad by-elections will take place next month, with Fianna Fáil’s novice councillor James Carroll in line to fill other seat. The structure of the by-elections, which are decided by a majority in both the Dáil and Seanad, mean the Government’s candidates are effectively guaranteed victory.

Mr O’Brolcháin captured national attention in the summer of 2007 when, as Mayor of Galway, he was forced to deal with the contamination of the city’s water supply. However, voters did not reward him and in June he joined a host of prominent Green Party councillors in losing his local authority seat.

He will take the seat on the Agriculture panel which was vacated by the Labour Party’s Alan Kelly when he was elected to the European Parliament.

Fianna Fáil had hoped to fill both seats itself. However, when a third vacancy opened up last month, the Green Party put pressure on the senior coalition partner to award it one position.

This was despite its two current senators, Dan Boyle and Deirdre de Burca, causing controversy in July by abstaining on a Government vote because of a spat with Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.

The Green Party has been desperate to increase its number of public representatives after it was shredded by the electorate in June. It had been expected to promote successful Louth councillor Mark Dearey. However, with Fianna Fáil opting for Seamus Kirk to be Ceann Comhairle (taking one Louth seat out of commission for the next election) and picking Mr Carroll as its first Seanad candidate, the opportunities for another Government representative in the constituency diminished greatly.