This article is from page 79 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 79 JPG
AS ONE political campaign official- ly ended on Thursday, another began in earnest.
The opening of the 30th Dail may have signalled that the General Elec- tion was well and truly over, but for many the campaign had just begun.
Early on Thursday Clare Seanad
hopefuls Cllr Pat Daly (FF) and Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) arrived in Dub- lin canvassing for votes and nomina- tions.
This was like shooting fish in a barrel. Almost all of the Seanad members they would need to can- vass would be only one place that day with many of the country’s vote yielding councillors not far behind.
At llam while the newly elected Dail members assembled for Mass, canvassers from all over also assem- bled. In Buswell’s Hotel, Cllr Mulc- ahy had strategically placed himself inside the door, cup of tea in one hand, list of councillors in the other.
He was hoping for a parliamentary nomination having received the nod from Clare Fine Gael.
Cllr Daly arrived soon after. Hav- ing already received a nomination, he was now looking for votes for the Labour Panel.
The assistant to Tony Killeen had already canvassed most of Munster but the Dail seemed the ideal loca- tion before he started moving north.
Then Clare’s only sitting senator, Brendan Daly (FF), met briefly with
his colleagues in the famous political hotel. Senator Daly was also seeking a Seanad nomination before begin- ning his tour of the country canvass- ing votes.
Cllr John Crowe (FG) 1s to date Clare’s only other candidate seeking election to the upper house, having secured a nomination for the Indus- trial and Commercial panel.