Michael Duffy
WESTPORT TD Michael Ring has not yet decided if he is going to contest next year’s European elections – despite a headline in last weekend’s Sunday Tribune which suggested he is to run.
Deputy Ring confirmed to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday) evening that he had attended meetings of party members in Carrick-on-Shannon and Donegal recently but this was ‘nothing unusual’.
“I have always attended functions outside of Mayo so there is nothing new there, but I am being asked the question more and more about Europe. However, nothing official has been decided at all yet.
“It’s not a simple Yes/No decision and that’s the reality. A lot of people outside of my Dáil constituency are encouraging me to run for Europe but I have to say a lot of my constituents here in Mayo don’t like the idea and would like me to see out my career in Dáil Éireann. Either way, nothing will be decided until the far side of the Nice Treaty Referendum.”
Deputy Jim Higgins has yet to announce whether he intends to seek re-election for Fine Gael in Europe next year, but Deputy Ring indicated that if he decides to run, it will be Fine Gael members at convention who will ultimately decide who their candidates will be.
“I have very much enjoyed my 14 years in the Dáil; the workload is immense but I have always found it rewarding. That’s why I won’t be making any impulse decision. It will be June or possibly July before I will make an announcement.”
Deputy Ring also hit the headlines at the weekend when he called on the Taoiseach to quit ‘for the sake of the country’.
“Politics in this country is being damaged by Bertie Ahern and people are genuinely fed-up with the whole saga by now. The crisis of confidence in Bertie Ahern’s ability to run the country is paralysing the Government’s ability to do its job. The weakness of Bertie Ahern means that Fianna Fáil Ministers are jockeying with junior Ministers and backbenchers for positions in a post-Ahern world. Meanwhile, the Greens and PDs are terrified of doing anything that might destabilise the Government, and their own lucrative positions. Bertie Ahern must go soon for the sake of the economy and the country.”
