Blaney accuses FF of ‘damaging’ his European election hopes

Fianna Fáil European elections candidate Niall Blaney has accused his party of “meddling” in the Midlands-North West campaign. He also revealed he demanded more support from party leader Micheál Martin during a private conversation after their live clash at an election press conference.

The Fianna Fáil senator made headlines on Friday when he confronted the Tánaiste at a campaign event over what he perceived as favouritism being shown to his fellow party candidates Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers.

“We had a robust discussion after the conference,” Mr Blaney told the Sunday Independent. “He had his perspective, I had mine, and I asked him for support in the last two weeks and left it with him.”

However, Mr Martin gave his colleague no commitment to give more party resources to his campaign after their confrontation.

Mr Blaney said: “There are enough votes out there for a second quota, but if we are throwing all our eggs in one basket at this stage, meddling in elections and not supporting all our candidates, it’s back to old politics and it’s not the republican approach that should be taken.

“What’s happening at the moment is that we are jumping when a poll is published and it is not helping ourselves. We meddled in the European elections in Midlands-North West in 2014 and we haven’t regained it since. I just see it happening again, and if we keep meddling we will end up with no seat.”

Central to the senator’s grievance with the party is a decision by Mr Martin to canvass with Mr Cowen in Longford two weeks ago. The Tánaiste is also scheduled to campaign with Ms Chambers this week.

But there were currently no arrangements for him to campaign with the Donegal-based senator.

Mr Blaney’s team is also upset over the lack of television and radio coverage he has been invited to take part in.

There is also anger over Fianna Fáil investing in a recent poster campaign featuring Mr Cowen and Ms Chambers, but not providing the same for Mr Blaney.

At Fianna Fáil’s European elections campaign launch on Friday, Mr Blaney told reporters he was not getting the same support as his fellow candidates.

The Tánaiste interjected to say he had canvassed with Mr Blaney and the only candidate he had yet to canvass with was Ms Chambers.

He told Mr Blaney he was “not getting into a public discussion on the logistics of a campaign at a press conference”.

However, it is understood Mr Blaney was not invited to the canvass in Cavan that Mr Martin was referring to. Instead, he was informed the Fianna Fáil leader was coming to the area by local election candidates and took the decision himself to show up for the canvass.

In reference to comments Mr Cowen has made, Mr Blaney said: “We are constantly told Fianna Fáil takes no notices of opinion polls, but we have one poll last week with one candidate claiming he’s the lead candidate in a video.”

Ms Chambers also criticised Mr Cowen’s comments, which were made alongside Mr Martin in an interview with the Irish Independent.

Mr Blaney said: “It seems we’re giving up on Connaught and the border counties where we need representation most.

“We are the poorest region in Ireland, we are one of the poorest in Europe. Infrastructure-wise, we are 218th out of 234 in the EU. We are right down the bottom and the gap is growing.

“This was never about me. It’s about the people around me and it’s about the people I represent in Connaught and the border counties.

“If we don’t have a voice in Europe who has the backs of people who need infrastructure built, who has the backs of farmers and fishermen, then we are going to be at a loss again.”

Mr Blaney said Midlands-North West is not properly represented in the European Parliament. He said more pressure should be applied in Europe so there was more “levelling up” for the region.

He said his home county of Donegal was given special EU status more than a decade ago, which should have secured better infrastructure, but he said this has not happened.

“We need to support all our candidates as best we can and then let the votes transfer where they can,” he said. “The more support we give to all candidates, the more chance we have of that second seat, but what’s happening at the moment is not fair.”