Unity the key for McDonald and Martin
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said the party are ‘moving on’ after the controversy surrounding its selection process for next month’s General Election.
Speaking at the opening of Councillor Lisa McDonald’s campaign centre on Selskar Street, Deputy Martin said he had chosen to canvas with Cllr McDonald first.
‘Yes, absolutely,’ he said when asked if he his decision was intentional. ‘We’re moving on now, it’s a unity of purpose, there’s a general election planned on February 8, that’s our focus and we want to win additional seats here in Wexford.’
In September of last year Cllr McDonald accused Fianna Fáil of ‘sexism’ after an additional two male candidates were added to the party ticket for the election, bringing the party’s total to four, three of whom are male.
However, party leader Micheál Martin was keen to look to the future, offering a united front as he greeted members of the public in Wexford town centre on Friday afternoon.
‘Lisa is a very strong candidate for us, we’ve a very strong team, and Lisa McDonald is a particularly strong in this location. I was very anxious to come here, and to spend some hours here meeting people, engaging with people, hearing the issues and the problems they have,’ said Deputy Martin.
And the Fianna Fáil leader said the party hoped to take three of the five seats on offer in Wexford at next month’s election.
‘Everywhere is tough at the moment, in this fragmented electoral landscape everywhere is tough, but every seat will be fought for. It’s a big constituency. We think we can go for three here, that’s what we’re going to do,’ he said.
And the leader of the nation’s main opposition party said he was fully aware of the issues concerning the residents of Wexford.
‘There is a number of issues here, there’s the whole issue of industrial development and economic activity in the South East. And people are very concerned about the accessibility of mental health services, particularly in children and teenagers.
‘I’ve just had discussions with people about projects being held up because of state agencies not being fast enough off the mark in terms of facilitating development, and insurance is becoming a big issue in the hospitality sector and the childcare sector.’
Cognisant of the county’s large agricultural population, Deputy Martin said although he didn’t support last week’s protest in Dublin city centre he was fully committed to resolving the issues affecting farmers in Wexford.
‘The whole agricultural sector in Wexford is quite difficult in terms of the income streams for farmers in the different sectors and we’re very conscious of that.
‘New income streams have to be developed in terms of climate change. The farmers are the custodians of the land and I think they have to be renumerated in terms of that agenda, making sure the beef farmers can get a decent price.
‘Compared to the UK and continental farmers, our farmers are getting far less. Its time for the processors and the retailers to even up the scales, ’I don’t support that kind of protest, but I support the issues that farmers are agitating about, the dialogue is now key, the taskforce has been set up and we need to get after that, and get some results out of that,’ he concluded.