This article is from page 58 of the 2009-04-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 58 JPG
WHATEVER the north Clare elec- torate has in store in 2009, it’s doubt- ful if it will be anything on to the dogfight in the constituency the last time around.
And, it was a dogfight that served up plenty of shocks and no little con- troversy in the scrap for the six avail- able seats.
The shock came by way of Fianna Fail councillor of 19 years and former chairman of the council, Michael Hillery, losing his seat.
Of course, it didn’t end there for the Hillery clan, another former chair- man Sean Hillery also lost his seat in the Shannon electoral area, mean- ing that there was no Hillery repre- sentation on Clare’s premier decision making body for the 2004-09 term of office.
Michael Hillery’s defeat wasn’t the only reverse for Fianna Fail in the ul- tra-competitive constituency — Tom Burke also lost his seat, meaning that two outgoing Fianna Fail councillors were the big losers as the party’s representation slipped from three to AYfOP
It wasn’t all bad for Fianna Fail though – Michael Kelly’s exhaustive canvass of the length and breadth of the constituency over a number of years saw the then 60-year-old win back the seat he lost in the 1999 elec- tion with a poll topping performance that made him one of the real Fianna Fail stars of the 2004 poll.
Fine Gael were also toasting a fa- mous victory – the party organisa- tion rolled back the years when win- ning two seats in north Clare for the first time since Bill Murphy TD and Jimmy O’Brien were returned in the 1967 election.
‘Our success was due to a hard and quality canvass of the total area and to having several committed and well motivated young people on our can- vassing teams. There’s no doubt that we were dealt a helping hand by the present government,’ Cllr Joe Arkins said after Fine Gael’s success.
“The Fine Gael organisation in north Clare have proved that it is possible to win two council seats by dedication and hard work and this certainly will be mirrored in the next General Election when Fine Gael will take two seats,’ added Cllr Arkins prophetically.
Fine Gael have been loath to make predictions about how they might fare this time around, but presum- ably they’re of the view that once more they’ll be “dealt a helping hand by the present government”.
“It was a dogfight for sure,” said Cllr Richard Nagle after being elected in 2004 without reaching the quota. The fifth and sixth seats were filled by Nagle and Martin Conway of Fine Gael.
This time around the seven de- clared candidates have only five seats to play for, something that could yet turn the constituency into another dogfight, even if it falls well short of the drama provided five years ago at the Colaiste Muire count centre in J Syayevise