Sinn Fáin launch major drive to snatch Dáil seat in Cork NW
“100 per cent - we will be definitely running a candidate in Cork North West.”
So said Sinn Féin’s Munster Cúige administrator John Buckley as he spoke to The Corkman about the party’s expansion plans in the constituency in which it failed to run a candidate in last year’s General Election.
Shortly after that poll, when candidates from the Social Democrats, Aontú and the Green Party between them almost polled a quota, Sinn Féin set about righting the wrong felt by many of the party’s supporters who resented not having a flag bearer for whom they could vote in what was an election which changed Ireland’s political landscape.
“We’re planning to hold a convention soon to select a candidate - we will hold it online so we won’t wait for the restrictions to end,” said Mr Buckley.
He disclosed that a number of candidates were considering putting their names forward to be the party’s nominee in the poll which may not be due, under normal circumstances, until 2024 or 2025 - but politics can change those circumstances.
One of the reasons for the absence of a Sinn Féin candidate cited by a party source during last year’s election count was the lack of a local organisation.
However, since his appointment as Munster party organiser, John Buckley has set about the work of reorganising the party in the province and, as part of this work, he’s had a role in encouraging and facilitating the establishment of party cumainn in Cork North West.
There’s a long established cumann in Ballincollig and, since Christmas, a Sinn Féin cumann has been established in Macroom while, in the past fortnight, a cumann has had its inaugural meeting in Kanturk to cover the town and nearby villages. According to John Buckley the cumann stretches as far as Charleville though he anticipates that a new cumann may have to be established in Charleville in the not too distant future.
“There’s a great deal of interest in the party locally,” he said.
While he was reluctant to describe as ‘regret’ the feeling of the party following last year’s General Election when Cork North West was not contested, he did say the party was aiming to upend the existing regime in the constituency which has been dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for a century.
When asked whether the party had any further plans for additional cumainn in the area, he said: “Very much so!”
“I can’t go into too much detail on the phone with you but there are plans for more cumainn in the area, right across the constituency.”
A possible obstacle in electing a TD in Cork North West is the failure to elect a councillor in the most recent local election, the 2019 poll. Ronnie Morley was the last councillor from the area but he had been co-opted on to the council prior to that election as a replacement for Cllr. Des O’Grady.
That said, many of the party’s current crop of TDs had been defeated council candidates in the 2019 poll, an election which saw a halving of the party’s council representatives across the country and the loss of two of the party’s MEPs, Lyn Boylan, now a senator, and Liadh Ní Riada who is living and working the Múscraí Gaeltacht.
Ms. Ní Riada, who was the party’s standard bearer in the Presidential Election in 2018 and had topped the poll in the European Election for Ireland South in 2014, is now living and working in Baile Mhúirne, right on the doorstep of sitting Fianna Fáil TD, Aindrias Moynihan. She would appear to be a likely contender to stand for Sinn Féin in a future poll and in an interview for The Corkman last Summer she wouldn’t rule out standing for Sinn Féin again.
John Buckley said she would be an ‘outstanding candidate for the party’.
Her proximity to Aindrias Moynihan might complicate her candidature should she decide to run but the party may also look to locating a nominee in Ballincollig where the vast bulk of the constituency population lives and which is not represented by a local TD at present.
John Buckley sounded an ominous warning to the current TDs. “The old regime is finished - we’re seeing it right through the constituencies, they’re absolutely sick of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and you can throw Labour in with those too.”
Those brave - or foolhardy - words may come back to haunt Sinn Féin if they fail to break Cork North West’s FF/FG hegemony. But they will definitely those parties on alert!