Anton McNulty
FINE Gael took a major step towards winning an unprecedented fourth seat in Mayo when traditional sure vote winner Michael Ring asked his supporters to give councillor Michelle Mulherin their number two vote in order to get the Ballina based solicitor elected to the Dáil.
The voting strategy was outlined at Michael Ring’s election campaign launch in the Castlecourt Hotel in Westport on Friday night.
Cllr Mulherin was present at the launch where Deputy Ring’s Director of Elections, Patrick Durcan told supporters of the voting strategy which they hope will get four Fine Gael candidates elected for Mayo.
“We believe that if four seats are to be won, Fine Gael supporters in this area should cast their number one vote for Michael Ring and their number two for Michelle Mulherin.
“That is the directive of the constituency executive and that is the directive we are encouraging you to follow. At the end of the day the object is to achieve four seats, we won’t do that by voting wildly, we will do that by voting in a scientific and planned way,” he said.
Vote management has been seen as an Achilles heal in Fine Gael’s quest for the fourth seat with the four candidates eager to hold onto as much territory as possible. Over the last week there was intense negotiation between the various candidates and their Director of Elections and an agreement was reached by both Michael Ring and Enda Kenny to cede some ground to Michelle Mulherin and John O’Mahony.
While Michael Ring’s supporters have been asked to back Mulherin, Michael Sloyan, the Fine Gael Director of Elections in Mayo confirmed to The Mayo News that no such agreement has been reached to ask Kenny’s supporters to give John O’Mahony their number two vote but a decision on it is expected to be made during the week.
Speaking to The Mayo News at his election launch, Deputy Ring said that he believes that if the four candidates win their area they have a chance of winning the four seats.
However he stressed that he faced the most challenges in terms of candidates in his area and would not take too kindly to other candidates canvassing in his area.
“I believe we will win the four seats if we all win our four areas. We have a strategy in place and I have given a lot of ground to Michelle Mulherin and John O’Mahoney, and I am hoping they will stick to it. Already the signals are not very good but if that’s the way they’ll play it, we will end up with three seats instead of four.
It has to be a team game and everyone will have to play their part and I will play mine. I gave up ground and so did Kenny and we are taking a big risk but we did it for the sake of the party,” he said.
A large number of supporters attended Deputy Ring’s launch including many of the local town and county councillors. In his address, Deputy Ring attacked the new Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and said Fine Gael would put the country first.
“I have a word for Micheál Martin. He likes to think he is cleaner than thou but at the end of the day he was a senior minister in the cabinet of the worst government since the foundation of the state.
They have hurt everyone in this country and I never thought the day would come that the IMF would be brought in by the great Republican party of Fianna Fáil. People are looking for hope and a new beginning. They are frightened about their family, their jobs and the country and we have to give them confidence and hope.”
No complacency
Complacency was the buzz word at Ring’s election campaign launch with supporters reminded that the election had not yet been won and nothing could be taken for granted. Each councillor who spoke at the launch warned not to let complacency set into the campaign and to ‘put the shoulder to the wheel’ until election day.
“This is a battle we cannot be complacent about,” warned Westport councillor John O’Malley. “We are not in government and we need to get every vote out. We are on a roll here but we have to keep our feet on the ground and canvass like we never canvassed before.” Cllr Austin Francis O’Malley said it was great to see Fine Gael on the verge of being the biggest party in Ireland and urged canvassers to get to every door in the county. Cllr Michelle Mulherin said that the Fine Gael party would give people hope and despite the economic problems it was an ‘exciting time for the country’. She said the people should not give up hope and to build on the momentum generated by Fine Gael.
Patrick Durcan delighted the supporters when he took a swipe at the state of the Fianna Fáil party in Mayo when commenting that the campaign so far was lonely because ‘we haven’t found the Fianna Fáil party anywhere’. Erris based councillor Gerry Coyle hit out at the ‘whiter than white’ Micheál Martin and claimed that both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin had brought hardship on the country in the past and told supporters to be proud members of the Fine Gael party.
“They have brought the IMF here but it has not been Fianna Fáil’s first time. And it’s not Sinn Féin’s first time if you can remember back. I’m not calling for us to be looking back but it is nice to remember a Civil War that has cost thousands of lives and a so called fight for freedom which for 35 years killed thousands. And the border never moved a millimetre either way since Collins signed the Treaty in 1921.
“Don’t be afraid to stand up to Sinn Féin and the whiter than whites when they come knocking on your door saying all will be different. Stick your chest out and be proud of being a supporter of Fine Gael and Michael Ring,” he concluded.
