Áine Ryan
For months, Castlebar undertaker, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne has been tipped in the national newspapers and on the top political blogs as likely to win one of the five seats in County Mayo. His eleventh hour decision yesterday to announce his candidature for the thirty-first Dáil has not only set the cat-among-the-political-pigeons here in Mayo but, to use a Bertieism, has also ‘upset the apple tart’ for each and every one of the other ten candidates vying for the five seats in a pivotal constituency for Fine Gael – home turf of the likely next Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.
Speaking last night to The Mayo News, Cllr Kilcoyne confided he was ‘reluctant to stand until the end’, but that repeated pleas by constituents had ultimately forced his hand.
“For weeks people from all over the county have been phoning and emailing me asking me to stand. They have said: ‘If you don’t stand, we will have no one to vote for.’ Given a choice, I wouldn’t go. All along I felt that with Fine Gael and Labour in a strong coalition I might not have any influence. I hope now, that if I am elected, I could join a Technical Group and we could fight together. There needs to be a solid block of candidates who are looking after the ordinary people,” Michael Kilcoyne told The Mayo News.
The former Labour Party Town Councillor, who was a member for over 20 years, resigned in 2004 after he was not allowed go forward for the county council elections. Longtime Labour Cllr Johnny Mee stood on behalf of Labour for that election and won a seat.
However, Cllr Kilcoyne revealed last night that, while approaches have since been made by both regional and national Labour organisers, no overtures had been made in the last 18 months.
He also observed that if elected to the Dáil, he would treat ‘every issue from the point of view of County Mayo and vote accordingly’.
When asked by The Mayo News if he would come to a voting arrangement with former Independent TD, Dr Jerry Cowley – now standing for Labour – Kilcoyne said that the Mulranny GP had not approached him but he was open to talking to any of the candidates.
New candidates
AND, coincidentally, Kilcoyne wasn’t the only new name to go on the ticket over the weekend. The choice for Mayo voters has now widened with the addition of another Independent and a Green, to a ticket, which so far only has one Fianna Fáil face, Junior Minister, Dara Calleary.
The Ballina native was appointed by new leader Micheál Martin yesterday afternoon as spokesman on Enterprise, Employment and Innovation. Welcoming the appointment he said he would continue to focus on job creation and innovative possibilities.
This was just hours after Calleary attended a gung-ho and well-attended Fianna Fáil convention in Castlebar on Sunday night, which saw retiring TD, Beverley Flynn in characteristic fighting form at the top table. She reminded members that Fianna Fáil was historically the party of the small farmer, while Deputy calleary challenged Enda Kenny to stop hiding from a leaders’ debate.
Ironically, the second Independent candidate to enter the race this weekend, Ballina-based, Martin Daly, is a former member of Fianna Fáil and a No to Lisbon campaigner. He wants to afford voters the opportunity to have ‘a real choice so they can put their justifiable anger to great effect by voting for someone who will not be part of a failed consensus’.
Meanwhile, the Green Party candidate, John Carey, hails from Kilmaine, the other end of the county. Launching his campaign over the weekend, he said he wants to see ‘a complete overhaul of the political system’.
A 45 year-old Building Surveyor, he said he wants to offer Mayo voters ‘an alternative to the stale stagnant politics of the old parties that are the remnants of the foundation of the State that serve vested interests, at the cost to wider society’.
