‘Arrogant’ to presume Josepha will win MEP nominee race – Regina
REGINA Doherty has hit out at ‘arrogant’ claims that rival Josepha Madigan is sure to win the Fine Gael Dublin European Parliamentary nomination later this month.
Ms Doherty is also standing to be Fine Gael’s Dublin candidate for the European Parliamentary elections, along with Ms Madigan and Barry Ward.
Several party sources have indicated that Ms Madigan has the campaign ‘sewn up’.
One Fine Gael source said: ‘In terms of the membership… Josepha is going to win it as far as I can see, and quite handily. She is doing the hard yards, knocking on the doors of members in Swords and Malahide.’
Another said: ‘Josepha and her team are very confident they have it. But I really don’t think anyone has votes sewn up on this.’
Asked about media coverage in the past week that has put Ms Madigan, the junior minister from Dublin Rathdown, in a decisive lead to take the nomination, Ms Doherty told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Anyone who thinks naively that this competition is over... that is quite arrogant. We don’t do coronations in any election in Fine Gael.
‘Anyone who thinks they have it sewn up, without having directly asked all of our elected representatives – and I know other colleagues haven’t done that – that’s quite arrogant. ‘So I’m quite happy that there’s two-anda-half weeks left and I will continue to ask every member for their support. That doesn’t stop until the speeches start on February 18, at 5pm. ‘All I’m doing at the moment is going to constituency and branch meetings every single night. I am meeting our members, both northside and southside.’
Ms Doherty said she has recently been in Dun Laoghaire, Lucan, Lusk and Skerries to meet party members.
‘My pitch is very straightforward. I am third-generation Fine Gael. My father and granny were Fine Gael all their lives. It’s not just something I picked up in the last number of years,’ she said.
‘My mother’s first election was in 1979. I remember handing out election leaflet outside churches and school when I was a young one. I know what every facet of our organisation does. I’ve been privileged enough to be a councillor, a TD and now a senator.
‘I have a wide variety of experiences, not just of drafting legislation but negotiating very large files at the European social affairs and employment affairs council.’
Both Paschal Donohoe and Neale Richmond were backing Ms Madigan in the contest, it was recently reported.
Ms Doherty said that she doesn’t think any Cabinet minister should be backing any candidate.
‘They shouldn’t be declaring for anybody. They should be waiting until our members’ pick [is decided] and then row in behind our members’ pick,’ she added.
The Seanad deputy leader said that she could appeal to every area in the Dublin constituency.
One Dublin TD said Fine Gael’s votes in the last two European elections came in a ratio of 2:1 southside to northside, adding that it simply made sense for Ms Madigan to get the nomination.
Other figures have said there was disappointment in the Doherty camp because some in the party had been saying only a southside candidate would do.
‘Regina Doherty is proud of the fact that she grew up in a council house in Ballymun,’ said one ally of Ms Doherty.
‘She can knock on any door in Dublin, of any flavour politically, and do her party proud – and not everyone can do that in the party,’ they added.
Other sources also suggested that Barry Ward’s vote will bring in one of either Ms Madigan or Ms Doherty.
‘There might be a bit of “Oh, they have more members on the southside than Regina has on the northside”,’ they said.
‘Barry’s vote will be significant – his vote comes from the largest constituency in the Dublin area.’
‘We don’t do coronations’