This article is from page 13 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
WEST Clare-based senator, Brendan Daly, claimed this week that no stone will be left unturned in Fianna Fail’s efforts to reclaim three seats in Clare in the next general election.
Twenty-four hours after his party colleague, Junior Minister, Sile de Valera announced her retirement from politics, Senator Daly was in defiant form last Friday, declaring, “There is going to be no stone un- turned to get back the three seats, no conceding anything to anyone at this stage.”
Less than a month ago, the former minister caused a surprise in some circles when he said he would be putting his name forward for cand1i- dature for the next general election at the Fianna Fail selection convention on January 9, 2006.
Now, assuming that he gets the green light from the Fianna Fail con- vention, Senator Daly looks to be a strong position to reclaim the Dail seat he lost in 2002 if Fianna Fail manages to hold onto its core vote in Clare in the next election.
Speaking at afunction at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point last Friday — which was also attended by Minister de Valera – Senator Daly
continued, “Personally, it is impor- tant to win three seats. We are going all out for three seats, we have the policies to back it up, the candidates
In ebullient form, the Senator con- tinued, “We don’t know what the con- vention will throw up. At the end of the day when the convention is over
already declared are well-placed, we are going to put up a fight, we are not going to give up easily, we are gonna out ee
and if I am on that ticket, I would be confident of being elected. There is a very big area of west Clare used to having two TDs representing it.
“We have a challenge there to get back the seat we lost the last time, we’ve won and lost it several times. We had two and three-quarter quo- tas last time out and we will be chal- lenging very strong on the basis of the economic performance under the Government, and that we have three candidates who understand the prob- lems of the county. “The quality of life in this county is better than most. If you look at Clare’s economic per- formance, itis better than most coun- ties. Seventy per cent of our kids are going into college, which is much higher than any other county in I[re- land. We want to keep it that way.”
Last time out, Senator Daly lost his Dail seat to James Breen TD who resigned from Fianna Fail in the months prior to the election in order to run as an independent.
Senator Daly was first elected TD in 1973 and held onto his seat until 1992 and regained it in 1997. During his time in the Dail, Senator Daly has served in three Ministries- as Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, the Marine and for Social Welfare.