This article is from page 8 of the 2013-12-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
BEING a card-carrying member of the Fianna Fáil comes at a cost that is too rich for some blood.
Following the fall of the last Government, it cost life-long grass root members a certain bit of embarrassment, but now as the soldiers of destiny regroup it is the monetary cost of membership that is causing concern.
Each member must pay an annual fee of € 20 to be a member of Fianna Fáil.
For this the members are to have the right to vote at convention for their preferred candidate, however as some members struggle to pay the fee their voting right is withdrawn.
This was a concern for Cllr Pat Keane at the party’s West Clare con- vention last week, during which he was selected to represent the party in the next Local Elections on the first count.
“It is sad for me to see some people turn up here tonight and they hadn’t a vote, and I say to the two deputies [Timmy Dooley and Nial Collins who were at the convention] that this is something at headquarters we have to address,” he said following his selection.
“The one person one vote is a good idea but we have to make it a realistic charge if people are to become members, and I think we can have more members if we can get that rectified and I have no doubt that ye will,” he added.
The € 20 fee was also a bone of contention at the Ennis convention where delegates questioned why they pay it after a directive to select just three candidates came from the party’s National Constituency Committee who are later to add two.
Delegates argued that their right to select candidates for the 2014 Local Election was taken away, and all that they got for their € 20 was to fundraise for the party.
It is understood that Fianna Fáil’s finance committee is now looking at “equitable ways of spreading cost on members”.