This article is from page 25 of the 2011-01-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
KILKEE woman Marina Keane has ruled herself out of the race for the Dáil, but hasn’t ruled out running in the future.
The 30-year-old solicitor is heavily involved in the Fianna Fáil party in Clare and was approached by party officials to run in the forthcoming election.
While she did consider contesting the election – in the aftermath of sitting TD Tony Killeen announcing his retirement from politics last week – she decided over the weekend that she would not run.
“I’ve ruled myself out. I’ve made the decision not to go. I did give it serious consideration after Tony Killeen stepped down. I did come under pressure last week and was asked to stand. There is an appetite there for a candidate from west Clare and I think people did want a west Clare name on the ticket, but you have to take personal circumstances and work circumstances into account,” she told The Clare People .
She has chosen to concentrate primarily on her career as a solicitor, in the short-term at least. She currently works as a solicitor with Michael Houlihan’s office in Ennis, having graduated from Blackhall Place four years ago.
“I’m still young enough and I am fairly early starting out in my legal career and I want to progress that. I also want to work on reform within the party. I’d like to work with the party on a national level. There has obviously been some damage done to the party over the past couple of years. We need to work on communications in the party,” she said.
Marina grew up in a Fianna Fáil house in Kilkee. Her father Pat has been a county councillor since 1991 and is a former mayor of Clare. She has been a key member of his election campaign team for several years. It’s not the first time that Marina’s name has been linked to the political stage. Her name was mentioned as a possible candidate in the 2007 General Election, but she similarly took the decision at that time not to stand.
She became a member of Ógra Fianna Fáil in Clare at the age of 19 and is currently a Kilrush Comhairle Ceantair representative to the Comhairle Dáil Ceantair.
She is highly regarded in Fianna Fáil circles in Clare and recently worked on the party’s county strategy, aimed at bringing about reform. She has also worked on various subcommittees in the county.
“That’s something I would like to continue to work on in the future; reform in the party,” she said.
“I would never rule anything out. However, my priorities are now on progressing my legal career and working in the Comhairle Ceantair,” she said.
“I’d never say never. It is something that might arise in the future. You can only assess things as they arise,” she said.