Could Taylor be on next FF ticket?
SOUTH Sligo is now without a TD after Eamon Scanlon lost his seat at the recent general election.
The Ballymote man was pipped to the fourth seat in Sligo-Leitrim by Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan, despite having polled the fourth highest amount of first preferences.
It appears that this defeat will signal the end of a long and enduring political career, dating all the way back to 1985.
Having first contested a local election some 35 years ago, Scanlon made his breakthrough to Sligo Council in 1991 when he won a council seat.
He topped the poll in the same constituency in 1999 and was then elected to the Oireachtas for the first time in
2002 when he was elected to the Seanad on the Agricultural panel.
Five years later, he became a TD for Sligo-North Leitrim, winning a seat alongside his running mate Jimmy Devins.
Scanlon was one of many Fianna Fáil casualties in the 2011 election when he lost his seat, but he returned to elected office as a councillor in the Ballymote-Tubbercurry area in 2014, before regaining his place in the Dáil against the odds at the 2016 general election.
“I want to thank all of you who voted for me on Saturday and who have supported me since I entered public life,” Scanlon told his supporters in a statement last week.
“I want to sincerely thank Anne, my family, my team and staff, the canvassers, volunteers and everyone involved over the years, those who have been behind me during this campaign and previous ones, it would be impossible to operate without them.
“I’m disappointed to have lost but that is the cut and thrust of politics.
“My thoughts are with my friends and colleagues who have also lost out, and with their families and staff. Congratulations to those elected, I wish them well.
“Thank you again for the opportunity to represent you over the years – I will be forever grateful for the loyalty and support.”
The loss of the party’s second seat in the constituency is a major blow to Fianna Fáil, and was a source of real disappointment for Marc MacSharry, who paid tribute to his running mate in his speech at the count centre after being declared elected.
“I’m personally gutted that it hasn’t worked out this time.
“Since 1985, he [Eamon Scanlon] has lived, ate and slept public service whether it was on the council, in the Senate or in the Dáil. In fact, where there was a blip when he was out, he didn’t stop then either.
“For Eamon, Anne and the family have given unstinting effort, work on behalf of all of these people and I know that there is nobody involved in politics from any colour – Independent, Sinn Féin, Labour, Fianna Fáil or other – who wouldn’t absolutely agree with that statement.”
Such is the fluidity of politics that attention will inevitably now turn to a possible successor to Scanlon in the event that he won’t contest another election – which may come sooner rather than later given the arithmetic in the 33rd Dáil.
Councillor Paul Taylor (above) would appear to be a ready-made replacement given his strong electoral record at local level and county-wide profile as the current Sligo Senior football manager. Taylor, who is based in Gurteen in south Sligo, could follow both John O’Mahony (Mayo) and Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth) as being elected as a TD while managing his native county.
Other names potentially in the frame may include Scanlon’s director of elections Keith Henry, who was co-opted into the Ballymote man’s council seat in 2014 but lost his seat at the 2019 local elections.