FF inquest as McDonald rules out another bid
A WEEK on from the General Election result in Co Wexford and Fianna Fáil are still licking their wounds as a row has erupted about the lack of support for first-time candidate Michael Sheehan.
Lisa McDonald has declared that she is not going to run for a Dáil seat again while Cllr Sheehan says he is determined to get a seat for New Ross. The county council chairman’s social media campaign strategist Sinead Dolan took to Facebook midweek to take aim at municipal council chairman John Fleming and Cllr Michael Whelan for allegedly failing to put the shoulder to the wheel and canvass for Cllr Sheehan. Describing their lack of support as quite shocking, Ms Dolan said: ‘It’s another reason the Fianna Fáil strategy and vote management around running four candidates in the Wexford failed. It just doesn’t make sense that you both claim to be working for our town and district area and then support a Fianna Fáil candidate from Enniscorthy.’
Ms Dolan also asked the question of former party TD Hugh Byrne from the Hook Peninsula, who helped Rosslare district Lisa McDonald candidate with her campaign, which ultimately got her 1.8 per cent of the vote.
’You can see why yet again this area is the loser. About time you all started pulling together in real life rather than ducking and diving. James Browne is one of the finest TD’s in the Dáil and an amazing constituency worker countywide but similarly Michael Sheehan – whom you all serve with on the Municipal District and County Council – deserved better in his first outing for the Dáil as does this town and hinterlands.’
Sounding a cautionary note, Ms Dolan said the lack of allegiance shown by the trio ‘won’t be forgotten at the next local elections’.
‘We have a new Independent alliance it seems in Cllr Pat Barden, New Ross district and Cllr Anthony Connick so between ye all ye might get on with getting that advance factory built and filled to bring jobs to New Ross and examine the possibility of opening a Family Resource Centre and a Community Childcare facility locally, unreal a town of 10,000 people have neither.’
Cllr Sheehan said he needed 5,500 votes to be in with a fighting chance of winning a seat (possibly at the expense of Malcolm Byrne), but only managed 4,400.
‘This was because of the failure of the party in the county to manage the vote properly. 1,200 votes went out of the New Ross area to the other Fianna Fáil candidates. As part of the party strategy councillors could only canvass in their own areas. If the strategy had been 1/2 where we were supporting each other we could have cascaded along and I would have leapfrogged Verona and probably stayed ahead of her.’
He said Malcolm Byrne and himself would have been in the mix, along with James Browne for a seat but for a poor strategy and a lack of joined up thinking and support.
Cllr Sheehan said he is unfazed by the actions of his party colleagues and is ‘straight back into it’.
Cllr Whelan said he canvassed with Cllr Sheehan and his team once when they visited Ballycullane, adding that he was asked a second time but was unavailable.
Cllr Fleming declined to comment when given the opportunity by this newspaper.
Cllr Willie Kavanagh said Fianna Fáil could have elected two TDs if the party had pulled out of the Confidence & Supply arrangement last October. ‘Sinn Fein were 11 per cent in the local elections. If they were that in the General Election they would have been nowhere. Michael Sheehan did a good job. Between them the other three candidates got over 1,000 votes in New Ross.’
Cllr Lisa McDonald said the four candidate strategy was wrong from the get go.
‘It was Malcolm’s strategy. He came up with it and he came acropper on it too. It gave me absolutely no chance. I was in an area with three councillors running. Really the strategy was crazy. I was brought up to headquarters before Christmas and they asked me not to come off the ticket. They thought they were going to get three seats.’
Cllr McDonald acknowledged that the political landscape changed ‘fairly rapidly’ in the fortnight prior to the election.
‘I was getting a really strong reaction and then it changed rapidly. I’m going to build back up my business and not run again. I’m happy as a county councillor.’