This article is from page 15 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
FORMER senator and newly elected TD, Timmy Dooley, has admitted that his party colleagues in Clare are facing an “uphill” battle in the up- coming Seanad election.
Looking forward to his first term as a ITD, the east Clare Fianna Fail deputy, was predicating a busy time ahead amid fears that his party would not return two senators from the banner county to replace himself and outgoing Senator Brendan Daly.
“It will be more difficult (work- ing in the 30th Dail). In the last ad- ministration we had four Oireachtas members. We now have two,” he said referring to himself and outgoing Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Ono
“We are hopeful that the Seanad will deliver two for us to balance it out but that is going to be an uphill battle with the way the Seanad cam- paign is going,’ he said, just hours before Senator Daly removed his name from the Seanad race.
The most Fianna Fail in Clare can now achieve is one Seanad seat if Cllr Pat Daly is elected. A Taoi- seach’s nomination could secure a second but this 1s thought very un- likely to happen.
“So it is going to be a big job of work for us to try to cover the county and manage the issues that are there,” he said.
Fianna Fail are expected to lose ap- proximately one senator from each panel in the upcoming election due to the make up of the council and the party’s losses in the last local elec- tions.
Poll topper Dooley does not see himself as a junior minister in the upcoming Dail and has resigned himself to the backbenches.
“IT see myself as an active back- bencher working obviously to deliv- erer for the people that have elected me and I think that as a back bench- er, I can work effectively in the same way many back benchers before me have done in the past, having access to government ministers, having a weekly parliamentary party meeting chaired by the Taoiseach addressing the issues together with my colleague Tony Killeen.”