This article is from page 2 of the 2007-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
TALK of internal dirty tricks have left a slight cloud over the celebra- tions of Clare Fine Gael this week- NOR
With no specifics given, the 1s- sue became apparent late on Friday evening at the count centre in the West County Hotel.
During her interview with local ra- dio station Clare FM shortly after her arrival Fine Gael candidate Council- lor Madeline Taylor-Quinn alluded to all not been well among the Fine Gael candidates.
She poignantly paid tribute to her county council colleagues, candi-
dates Tony Mulcahy and Joe Carey.
Later in the interview when asked if there was a dirty tricks campaign, the seasoned politician said, “No doubt there was an element at certain levels, but it is not the place to go into it now.”
She refused to be drawn on the issue later in the night and again yesterday (Monday), but she did not retract her accusations. The former TD refused to be drawn any further on the issue.
Re-elected TD Pat Breen was ada- mant that his party colleague was not referring to him.
When he arrived in the West Coun- ty, he told waiting reporters that he had fought a clean campaign.
“I don’t know what Madeleine was on about. I don’t think it was me,” he Said.
Four candidates running in the four-seater Clare constituency had caused inter-party difficulty from the SFB
Both Deputy Breen and Cllr Tony Mulcahy had been selected at con- vention last May, with Cllr Taylor- Quinn and Joe Carey added by head- quarters at a later stage.
Deputy Breen publicly opposed the strategy, but he had to admit that the it worked when he was returned with running mate Joe Carey.
“My view was that a two or three candidate strategy was the best thing
to win two seats. My task always was to get two seats for the party and on this occasion the four-candidate strategy has worked well, because independent candidate James Breen lost so many votes.
“It’s astonishing that someone could lose over half of his first pref- erence vote. It goes to show you that no seat is safe.”
When asked how the strategy im- pacted on her election result, Cllr Taylor-Quinn said, “With four candi- dates one knew that the vote would be divided up.”
She said she was happy however that the party had increased its vote in Clare by 11 per cent.