Michael Commins
THERE was disappointment for Mayo native Mary Davis who trailed in at the end of the field in the Presidential election at the weekend. After a positive start where early polls indicated her running at 18 per cent, she slipped back in the closing five weeks of the campaign along with David Norris and Gay Mitchell. Higgins, Gallagher and McGuinness maintained the top three spots in all the opinion polls in the last few weeks and none of the other four managed to regain lost ground.
A strong campaign was put in on the ground in Mayo and while she took in the region of 5,000 number one votes in county, it fell well short of expectations at the start of the campaign. Kiltimagh, as expected was her best town in the whole country while she also picked up a good vote in Kinaffe, Craggagh and a few other booths mainly around the East Mayo region.
Mary was pictured with all the candidates at the count centre in Dublin Castle on Friday night but questions were raised when she was not present for the final declaration of the result on Saturday evening.
In an interview with RTÉ, she disclosed that she was not aware of the protocol in relation to the declaration and said that she would of course have been there had she realised such was the case. She conveyed her best wishes to Michael D and Sabina and their family on what was a huge occasion for all of them.
Breaffy man, John Caulfield, who was director of elections for Mary in Mayo, expressed thanks and gratitude to the 5,000 who had voted for Mary in the county and to all who had been so helpful since the campaign got under way.
“We put in a big effort and had hoped for a bigger vote in Mayo. But there was a big focus on Michael D Higgins and Seán Gallagher in the closing stages of the campaign and all others lost out in the run-in. We are very proud of Mary and her immense contribution to Irish society over many years and it was a special honour to be associated with her campaign,” he said.