FF strategist urges party to give Calleary clear run

FF strategist urges party to give Calleary clear run


Michael Commins

FIANNA FÁIL in Mayo is being urged to run Dara Calleary (pictured) as a stand-alone candidate in order to guarantee a seat for the party in the county.
A former chief strategist with the party in Mayo who spoke to The Mayo News at the weekend said that, in the aftermath of the decision of Beverley Flynn not to seek re-election, it made huge sense to select the outgoing Minister as their only candidate as there was only one seat for Fianna FΡil in Mayo on this occasion.
“It’s as simple as this. Fianna FΡil risk not winning any seat if they put up three candidates and split the vote. That happened to Fine Gael in Limerick West in the late 1980s when a PD candidate slipped through after Fine Gael ran three and their transfers went everywhere.
“I would strongly recommend Fianna FΡil to go it alone with Dara Calleary.
Even if the party were coming in at around 17 per cent, he would still be on a quota of votes. Furthermore, that would leave him a few thousand ahead of Fine Gael’s Michelle Mulherin in Ballina and in a position where he could not be caught.
“By my reckoning, it would also totally scuttle the chances of Fine Gael taking four seats. Instead of totally wasting time on canvassing in Mayo, it would allow the party to re-direct canvassers to nearby Galway West where there is still a fighting chance of retaining two seats.”
Our Fianna FΡil source, who served with the inner sanctum of the party planning strategy committee during the past fifteen years, says reality has to dawn and the safe option is the best option.
“I would not risk running out one or two new candidates and watching them get a drubbing. There are better ways to groom candidates and the local elections will be along again in three years time.
“We can huff and puff and expend all the energy we want but, at the end of the day this time around, we are looking at holding one seat in Mayo. If Dara Calleary is our sole candidate, I believe he will be second behind Enda Kenny on the first count and a bit ahead of Michael Ring. That’s the seat in the bag for Fianna FΡil. Any other strategy has potential risks.”