O'Dea's sister shafted by FF, to run as Independent

[mccafferty cat]

The first high(ish) profile victim of the Fianna Fáil policy of shafting its grassroots membership by having all of its candidates picked behind closed doors in HQ, seems to be Mrs. Mary Burke, sister of Willie O'Dea, who has been told that she won't be a candidate in Kilmallock in Limerick. (page 8 of yesterday's "Irish" Mail on Sunday - I don't have a web link sorry!).

She protested in writing to the offices of Mary Coughlan and Seán Dorgan (FF General Secretary) but was ignored. In a fit of pique she has decided to stand as an Independent representing "women and children", against FF which she describes as an "old boys club".

There have been a few threads recently on political dynasties, and everyone's general distaste towards them in situations where people think they should be entitled to seats on the basis of their name ONLY, without having to do any actual work. In view of this, Mrs. Burke's quoted comments will give us all some amusement:

"When I opened the letter, I was hurt. I said to Willie: 'The political dynasty is after taking a nosedive'."

[wysiwyg]

Yeah, that article surprised me as well... however, it'll probably work out better for her in the long run, as she will effectively be chasing FF votes as an "Independent", which may make her more palatable to the electorate, but I have no doubt, that if she is elected, she'll act hand in glove with any other FFer on the council... so basically she'll become a FF councillor by proxy..

expect a lot of that..

However, what also struck me about that article, or one very close to in the yesterdays Mail on Sunday (I bought it for the Christy Hennessy CD btw), was, was finding out that FG are running a girl called Sinéad Sheepard for election in Cobh. Ms Sheppard would be better known to most people as one of the three women who was selected in Irelands first reality music program for the band "Six"

She told the newspaper that although she was running, she "hasn't thought through her campaign yet"....

6 months before election, and she hasn't thought through her campaign yet ?

So this is the sort of "local representative" that FG proposes to stand to "change the way local politics is carried on" ?

[mccafferty cat]

6 months before election, and she hasn't thought through her campaign yet ?

So this is the sort of "local representative" that FG proposes to stand to "change the way local politics is carried on" ?

Ah in fairness, when someone comes into any party from outside, you can hardly expect them to have their whole campaign planned down to a T within a week....

[KingKane]

Yeah, that article surprised me as well... however, it'll probably work out better for her in the long run, as she will effectively be chasing FF votes as an "Independent", which may make her more palatable to the electorate, but I have no doubt, that if she is elected, she'll act hand in glove with any other FFer on the council... so basically she'll become a FF councillor by proxy..

expect a lot of that..

However, what also struck me about that article, or one very close to in the yesterdays Mail on Sunday (I bought it for the Christy Hennessy CD btw), was, was finding out that FG are running a girl called Sinéad Sheepard for election in Cobh. Ms Sheppard would be better known to most people as one of the three women who was selected in Irelands first reality music program for the band "Six"

She told the newspaper that although she was running, she "hasn't thought through her campaign yet"....

6 months before election, and she hasn't thought through her campaign yet ?

So this is the sort of "local representative" that FG proposes to stand to "change the way local politics is carried on" ?

It is also possible that she didn't want to give away her entire campaign plan to a newspaper and hence to those she is running against.

[meriwether2]

Yeah, that article surprised me as well... however, it'll probably work out better for her in the long run, as she will effectively be chasing FF votes as an "Independent", which may make her more palatable to the electorate, but I have no doubt, that if she is elected, she'll act hand in glove with any other FFer on the council... so basically she'll become a FF councillor by proxy..

expect a lot of that..

However, what also struck me about that article, or one very close to in the yesterdays Mail on Sunday (I bought it for the Christy Hennessy CD btw), was, was finding out that FG are running a girl called Sinéad Sheepard for election in Cobh. Ms Sheppard would be better known to most people as one of the three women who was selected in Irelands first reality music program for the band "Six"

She told the newspaper that although she was running, she "hasn't thought through her campaign yet"....

6 months before election, and she hasn't thought through her campaign yet ?

So this is the sort of "local representative" that FG proposes to stand to "change the way local politics is carried on" ?

I know people who thought their campaign through for two years and got under 200 votes.