Family connections to the fore in Midlands seat

The battle for Longford-Westmeath once again highlights Ireland’s curious tradition as a Republic that often takes comfort in voting for the hereditary principle when choosing elected representatives.

Family connections are to the fore in the Midlands seat where Gabrielle, the sister of recently deceased TD Nicky McFadden, is up against Aengus, the son of former minister Mary O’Rourke. The by-election was caused by the death of Ms McFadden at the end of March after a long battle with motor neuron disease.

Fine Gael top brass moved quickly to hold the Dáil showdown (and one in Dublin West) on the same day as the local and Euro polls, and clearly hope a mixture of family name recognition, and sympathy for the late and popular TD, will help secure the seat for the dominant Government party at a time of deep dissatisfaction with the Coalition.

The party is aided in this task by the fact that Gabrielle is already a well-established political figure locally as she is mayor of Athlone — a post once held by her father.

Some Fianna Fáil feathers were ruffled by the rush to anoint Mr O’Rourke as the heir apparent in his mother’s former power base, but once again name recognition helped win the day for the councillor.

The future of Athlone barracks is a major local issue, with Fianna Fáil promising to restore the fifth battalion and HQ it in the town, while the Government has indicated no more defence cuts would hit the area.

Fine Gael is quietly confident of holding the seat and is unlikely to be much troubled by Labour candidate Denis Leonard, who was selected after it appeared the party might not be able to field a standard bearer at all.

Labour has a difficult history with by-elections and is still licking its wounds from the last two battles it fought in the present Dáil. It managed to win the contest in Dublin West — the first such victory for a governing party in three decades, only to lose the TD when Patrick Nulty quit the party in protest at the austerity agenda he was partly elected on.

Labour were then relegated to a humiliating fifth place in the Meath East by-election last Spring where the daughter of the deceased constituency TD, Helen McEntee, triumphed.

Labour’s sitting TD in Longford-Westmeath, Willie Penrose topped the poll for the party in 2011 (and then quit over threats to close the local barracks in Mullingar, before rejoining recently), and commands a strong personal vote not wedded to party brand loyalty.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has publicly snubbed Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s offer of a blanket transfer deal for the by-elections and national polls, but said he expects Labour voters will help out Fine Gael. With Sinn Féin’s Athlone councillor, Paul Hogan, finishing sixth in the four-seater at the last general election, the party is not expecting a major upset this time out, even though SF is hoping for significant gains at Euro and council level.

With the main candidates all coming from the main population centre of Athlone, while the Labour representative lives in the far east of the constituency in Kinnegad, there will be little geographic consideration in the vote share, though Longford will again feel like the ugly sister of the constituency.

The hopefuls

Fine Gael: Gabrielle McFadden

Fianna Fáil: Aengus O’Rourke

Sinn Féin: Paul Hogan

Labour Party: Denis Leonard

Independents/Others: John McNamara, Donal Jackson, Brian Fagan, James Morgan, Kevin “Boxer” Moran