Election battle enters its crucial stages

SEVERAL years ago, just minutes after he had been surprisingly eliminated from a general election race in Kerry South, a disgruntled Fine Gael politician was approached by a young reporter at the count centre in Killarney’s old town hall and asked for his reaction.

“It’s just beginning to dawn on me,” the deflated candidate replied, “that there are a hell of a lot of liars in south Kerry.”

In the coming days and weeks embattled Fianna Fáil TD John O’Donoghue might well take some consolation from that encounter and hope that Kerry South’s fabled reputation for being economical with the truth come election time might be a trait still in existence.