Let battle commence

Let battle commence


Opinion
Michael Commins

OKAY, folks, lets gets rock ‘n ‘rolling on a light note. You may or may not have got wind of the humorous text message doing the rounds among some Fianna FΡil activists last week. “Wanted: Fit individuals, qualified in self-defence, to put up posters for Fianna Fail. Very lucrative work. Possible extra work as canvassers for survivors. Ability to run also an advantage”!
One of the longest run-ins to a General Election is finally in the closing stages. At time of going to press, we have eleven candidates in the field here in Mayo, three down on the 13 that stood in 2007. Even at this stage, it is fair to state that the only absolutely guaranteed outcome is that Fine Gael win take three seats out of the five. Talk of winning four is destined to come up short.
Enda Kenny is expected to repeat his poll -topping performance of 2007 and Michael Ring should take the second Fine Gael seat …even though he has a lot of competition from Kenny as well as from Michael Kilcoyne, Jerry Cowley and Rose Conway-Walsh, all of whom are fishing from the same pool.
The battle between outgoing TD John O’Mahony (who has no other locally based candidate opposing him in east and south Mayo) and Ballina’s Michelle Mulherin is one that will be monitored closely between now and election day.
Many thought I was ‘stone-mad’ when I was first to run with the story three weeks ago here in The Mayo News that Dara Calleary might be Fianna Fail’s sole candidate in Mayo. It now looks that this is the likely scenario. Two seats were never on for Fianna Fail on this occasion. From once Beverley Flynn announced she was not seeking re-election, Dara Calleary was clearly the only Fianna Fail candidate likely to win a seat. It would be truly amazing if they were not to win a seat in Mayo, a county where they almost always won four out of six seats when Mayo had two three-seat constituencies.
Gerry Murray, who was the only Sinn Fein councillor in all of the five western counties to head the poll in any electoral area in the Council elections of 2009, is director of elections for the party who are fielding Cllr Rose Conway-Walsh in Erris and Castlebar Town councillor Therese Ruane in Castlebar.
The imminent ‘arrival’ of Cllr Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) on the scene is sure to liven things up, certainly in mid and west Mayo where he will pick up substantial support. Former TD Dr Jerry Cowley is flying the Labour flag this time. So far, it is hard to get a handle on the likely support he will attract this time around.
The weekend also saw secondary school teacher Martin Daly add his name to the ballot paper. Martin has the support of the Mayo Reform Movement, which includes many seasoned campaigners who were on the Mayo No to Nice campaign trail. The Ballina-based candidate may well pick up a surprisingly decent vote on his first outing.
Right now, the odds are on three Fine Gael, one Fianna FΡil, and the other is still all to play for with three weeks to go.