Gilmore in vote pact snub to Kenny

The move was even more pointed as Enda Kenny was standing beside the Tánaiste and had just urged Fine Gael supporters to back Labour candidates in next week’s national polls.
Mr Kenny went out of his way to urge Fine Gael backers to transfer to Labour candidates in Euro, local, and Dáil by-election votes.
“I’ll be advising our candidates to pass on their preference votes to the Labour candidates.
“We don’t have a formal agreement on this.
“I am good friends with the Tánaiste and I’ll be advising people on our roads to pass on their votes.
“It is a matter for the Labour party whether they want to reciprocate or not,” he said as the pair launched a new building stimulus.
However, Mr Gilmore did not offer a similar arrangement to Fine Gael.
“When you are on the doors and you have two or three candidates in a local election area, getting them to recommend transfers to their two running mates is a challenge, getting them then to mention the name of the European election candidate on the door is a further challenge, getting them to mention the name of the by election candidate is an added challenge, so I’m going to concentrate on getting our supporters to transfer their votes to Labour candidates.
“As the Taoiseach says we don’t have a formal agreement on this. I think it is inevitable that people who are supporters of the Government will continue their transfers to the other party, and I’ll be doing that myself,” he said as Mr Kenny looked on.
With the prospect of failing to hold a MEP seat, major losses at local level, and an expected near wipeout in the by-elections, Labour fears an across-the-board pact will damage it by associating it even more rigidly to Fine Gael.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael parliamentarians elected Limerick TD Dan Neville as chairman of the party to replace Charlie Flanagan, who was made children’s minister last week.