This article is from page 3 of the 2007-07-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
OI ANA ae Ms lH eCOLUMB Re ReoNeclBOemseN what one candidate has dubbed the “exclusive club” of the Seanad for the first time since 1965.
In that year the late Dermot Honan (FF) was elected to the upper house taking the seat vacated after his fa- ther TV’s death in 1954.
Since then there has been a F’- anna Fail or Fine Gael senator from OE Ncer
With the unlikely exception that the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will name a
Clare politician among his chosen 11 nominees for the upper house of the Oireachtas, Clare, like Limerick, will remain without a senator for the next five years.
Clare County Councillors John Crowe (FG) and Pat Daly (FF) failed to be elected to the Seanad following six weeks and 11,000 miles each of campaigning.
Cllr Daly, who works for junior minister Tony Killeen said he be- lieved that “to win a seat you have to take an existing senator out of the exclusive club.”
“You could take Daniel O’Connell out of the square quicker than you could take out a senator.”
The Ennis councillor said he was disappointed not to get a place on the 11-seat Labour Panel, but believed he got a respectable vote.
“The way I view it over 90 per cent of the senators remain in their seats. I was trying to bring a fresh face to the senate,’ he said.
“TI thought I would have been an as- set and another voice for the people of Clare.”
He said he was not likely to run
again for the upper house, but said he should never say never.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Cllr Crowe was within a few votes of being elected to the nine seater Industrial and Commercial Panel. The Sixmi- lebridge man who was one of 36 con- testing the panel was eliminated in the 25th count.
His elimination secured the seat for Fine Gael’s Paul Coughlan from Ker- ry. “It was marvellous to have stayed in so long,’ said Cllr Crowe. “It was a fair challenge but I enjoyed every bit of it. Clare is well got all over the
country and it is well known.”
The Fine Gael councillor has not ruled out campaigning for a Seanad seat again.
“Politics is like a drug. The more you get the more you want,’ he said.
The councillor said he had no re- egrets on a personal level running for the Seanad.
“I was proud to represent the county and represent the party,’ he said.
“The one regret I have is that we don’t have a senator of the county. I’m not only disappointed for our- selves but for the county,’ he added.