Crowe not seeking election nomination

The inclusion of over 5,000 South-East Clare voters in the Limerick East constituency presented a stumbling block for Councillor Cathal Crowe when he considered running for the 2007 General Election, he claimed. The inclusion of over 5,000 South-East Clare voters in the Limerick East constituency presented a stumbling block for Councillor Cathal Crowe when he considered running for the 2007 General Election, he claimed.
Councillor Crowe has also has ruled out seeking a Fianna Fáil nomination in Clare ahead of the next general election.
This week, he described the enlargement of the Limerick East constituency out into South-East Clare in the early nineties as the start of the Limerick City “boundary extension by stealth”.
Councillor Crowe claimed he had a lot of support to run for the Dáil back in 2007 having been approached to put his name forward by members of the local Parteen and Meelick Fianna Fáil cumann.
The Fianna Fáil Councillor felt large parts of South-East Clare needed a voice in the Dáil to tackle a number of important issues. However, he decided not to seek party nomination having weighed up the disadvantage of starting out without at least 5,000 voters from his own local area.
Fianna Fáil ran three candidates in the 2007 General Election in Clare a bid to regain the seat that Senator Brendan Daly lost to former Independent TD James Breen in the 2002 General Election.
Minister of State, Tony Killeen retained his seat, newcomer Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fáil) topped the poll while Senator Daly failed in his election bid as Fine Gael’s Pat Breen and party colleague Joe Carey, another first time candidate, took the other seats.
Having moved to live in the Westbury Housing Estate, which is now in the Limerick East constituency for Dáil elections, Mr Crowe would have a support base if he chose to run in this constituency.
Councillor Crowe has pledged, however, that he would never contest a general election in Limerick East on the same ticket as Deputy Willie O’Dea.
Both have run clinics together in South-East Clare and almost adopted a joint approach when it came to dealing with some of the main political issues in the district.
“I am a Clare public representative and I am not going to run in a general election against Willie O’Dea. I considered running for the Dáil in the last election because I felt this area needed a voice in Leinster House.
“If most of South-East Clare was in the Clare constituency, I would have run. This area is well represented at local authority level. Local authority services have improved in recent years since the provision of the South East Clare area offices in Westbury.
“If you added the 5,000 people who are now voting in Limerick East with people living in Meelick, Cratloe, Clonlara and Killaloe, this would bring you very close to 10,000 and a good base for a quota,” he said.
Because of the current political geography, Councillor Crowe has ruled out the prospect of seeking a Fianna Fáil nomination in Clare ahead of the next general election.
He believes Fianna Fáil should put two candidates, Defence Minister Tony Killeen and Deputy Timmy Dooley forward for re-election in a bid to retain two seats.
“Clare could be key constituency when it comes to retaining Dáil seats because Fianna Fáil will not be able to rely on performing well in Dublin.
“I think you will see two Fianna Fáil and two Fine Gael TDs elected in Clare after the next general election. However, Independent Councillor James Breen or Labour could cause a shock,” he said.