COUNTY councillors Martin Conway and Johnny Flynn could go head-to-head at the Fine Gael General Election Convention next month in a bid to be added to the party ticket.
While Clare Fine Gael has not decided on a strategy for the next election, it is expected the party will run three candidates, selecting two at convention on Sunday, December 12 with a third to be added at a later stage by the national executive.
Deputies Pat Breen and Joe Carey will be hot favourites to win their place on the party ticket at the convention but the real interest will centre on how Councillor Conway and Flynn fare, if the latter decides to put his name forward.
The last convention attracted a huge crowd of 1,400 out of the 2,200 party membership following the high risk strategy of running four candidates, councillors Tony Mulcahy, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Joe Carey and Deputy Breen.
Deputy Breen said he understands  Fine Gael will select two candidates at convention with party headquarters adding a third at a later stage.
Deputy Carey insisted he is determined to retain his seat and help Fine Gael form the basis of the next Government by electing two deputies in the county.
Councillor Conway topped the poll in the Ennistymon Electoral Area with 1,820 first preferences, the second highest in the county after Councillor Joe Cooney’s impressive tally of 2,700 votes. He has been approached by people in North Clare, Ennis and East Clare to go forward.
Councillor Conway argues Fine Gael should try to win three seats in the county, in light of the dramatic increase in unemployment.
“Thousands of Clare people are hanging onto their jobs by a thread. There isn’t a house in Clare not affected by unemployment. The circumstances which existed back in 2007 no longer exist,” he said.
Councillor Flynn is seriously considering putting his name forward after being approached by members of the Ennis Central branch. Having topped the Ennis East Electoral Area with 1,400 first-preference votes and secured 1,300 in Ennis Town Council, Councillor Flynn estimates 2,200 people in the Ennis area voted for him in the last local elections when dual votes are discarded. “I have ambitions to serve Ennis and Clare as a deputy but I have to consider a number of issues before I decide if the time is right; 120 Clare people have put their name forward to be elected to Dáil, only 32 have been elected and it would be a great honour to be the 33rd,” he said.
Labour and Sinn Féin are still considering their options for selecting candidates in Clare.
Former independent deputy James Breen, who lost his seat narrowly in the last general election to Deputy Joe Carey, confirmed on Monday that he would be a candidate.
Councillor Tony Mulcahy, one of the four Fine Gael candidates to contest the 2007 General Election, confirmed he would not be putting his name forward at convetion.
He warned there are no “easy” Dáil seats to be won in Clare and expressed scepticism that some pundits predict the main Government party will lose one of its sitting deputies.
Acknowledging that Fianna Fáil’s vote in Clare collapsed in the urban areas of the county in the 2009 local elections, Councillor Mulcahy pointed out their candidates still polled between 44 and 48% in parts of North, West and East Clare.
“Fianna Fáil secured about 26,000 votes in the last general election and even if that falls by 20%, I don’t think they are in danger of losing a seat.
“Fine Gael will have to work very hard to retain their two seats. The two outgoing deputies are working hard but there will be no easy seats. Labour and Independent Deputy, James Breen will be in the shake up for a  seat.
Councillor Joe Cooney declined to rule himself in or out of a Dáil bid and pledged to consider the matter over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, a number of people have been nominated including Deputies Timmy Dooley and Tony Killeen to contest the Fianna Fáil General Election Convention.
A party spokesman declined to reveal the names of the candidates before the closing date had elapsed on Wednesday night and a date fixed for the convention but The Clare Champion understands that there is at least one West Clare candidate.

Rural resettlement campaigner to run

Love of his country, deep concern for the mess in which it finds itself and a determination to use his life’s experience to achieve radical changes are the reasons put forward by Jim Conollly of Kilbaha in contesting the next general election.
Making the announcement this week to run as an independent candidate for the Clare constituency, he said desperate times need desperate measures and that Ireland needs people with a deep passion to step forward and offer their energies and skills in the political arena.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, the man who came to national prominence through his campaign to halt population decline in rural Ireland, said the idea to move from voluntary work to politics and contest a seat in Dáil Éireann is his own.
“What drives me to even consider politics at this time of life is basically the frustration shared by huge numbers of people trying to fathom how a country which became so wealthy and provided ‘the good life’ for so many, can also remain so socially impoverished in many vital areas,” he said.
Except for a failed attempt at the local government elections in Clare in 1997, Jim says he has tried over the years to contribute to social and human rights issues in a voluntary capacity.
He claims Ireland is in dire straits, “not due to 800 years of domination by outsiders but rather 20 years of national madness centred on delusions of massive wealth”.
“A country with no counter balancing natural resources like oil or minerals rocketed from nowhere to being listed as the second wealthiest nation in the world. Corruption was rife in politics, banking and planning and hundreds of new millionaires were created overnight.
“Suddenly the tide went out and the delusion of massive wealth has turned into a reality of massive debt. Because it was an illusion based on foreign borrowings, evidenced now by worthless sites and empty or unfinished buildings countrywide, there is no real money to repay the debts. Paddy the builder has built the biggest black hole in the financial world,” he claims.
Now aged 73, the Foynes native has been living in Kilbaha since 1972 where he is a sculptor. Mr Connolly was presented with a People of the Year Award in 1993 for founding Rural Resettlement Ireland and is executive chairman of the group since 2000.
His inspiration for setting up in the resettlement programme stemmed from the fact that West Clare had a population loss of up to 60% between 1926 and 1996. Rural Resettlement Ireland is responsible for moving over 700 families to counties all over the west and midlands, with over 200 families moving to Clare.
A one time member of the famous Monarchs Showband in Limerick, Mr Connolly was a founder member of the new Clare Craft Workers Association, the Safe Driving Pledge to promote road safety at national level and the West Clare Jazz Festival from the late 1990s until 2003.
Married to Kathleen, they have three children and eight grand-children, all living in West Clare.