Dooley and Hillery selected

Dr John Hillery and Deputy Timmy Dooley will contest the general election for ­Fianna Fáil in Clare following the convention on Sunday. Dan Danaher reports.

CLARE Fianna Fáil has selected the son of a former President of Ireland and outgoing Deputy Timmy Dooley to retain its two seats in the next general election.
As exclusively revealed in last week’s Clare Champion, Dr John Hillery and Deputy Dooley were chosen to represent the party at the selection convention chaired by Social Affairs Minister, Eamon Ó Cúiv on Sunday without a vote.
The local organisation was left reeling when Defence Minister Tony Killeen announced his decision to retire after the next general election because of health reasons.
It struggled to secure candidates to fill the vacancy left by such a high-profile minister until Dr Hillery gave their election campaign a renewed impetus following his dramatic entry.
While there was some concern about the amount of time spent outside Clare by Dr Hillery, who is a Dublin-based consultant psychiatrist, none of this was aired publicly at the convention and neither of the two candidates were challenged on the day.
A lot of cumann members, who had nominated Deputy Killeen before the close of nominations last December were concerned they wouldn’t have the opportunity to put forward new candidates following his unexpected withdrawal.
However, their minds were put at ease when Dr Hillery entered the race, thanks to a provision allowing the national executive to add a candidate to the list for convention after the close of nominations.
A few weeks ago, Minister Killeen, Deputy Dooley, West Clare Councillor Bill Chambers, Marian Coughlan-Flynn and Ennis-based solicitor, Marina Keane from Kilkee were the original nominees.
Deputy Dooley was the only one remaining as the other candidates withdrew their names before the start of convention.
Minister Killeen expressed confidence that the two candidates would retain two seats in the four-seater constituency and stressed if this happened, it would vindicate the decision he made to retire.

Retirement and recession behind election move
The dramatic retirement of Defence Minister Tony Killeen and the impact of the recession prompted Dr John Hillery to enter the race to become a Dáil deputy in Clare.
That’s according to his wife, Carolyn, who revealed that Dr Hillery was very upset with the way the country has gone over the last few years.
In an interview with The Clare Champion, she said she was delighted with his selection on the Clare Fianna Fáil ticket to contest the election.
“I can’t believe we have got to this day. I didn’t come down here today thinking that he was going to be a shoe-in. We were under no illusions about the task. As it turned out, there was no contest, which was great.
“I couldn’t live with him if he got to the age of 65 and didn’t put his head up above the parapet to serve his country.
“It will be a huge change for all the family. As a doctor, John is on call for a full week and he has always been committed to his job so it just means a change of work,” she said.
She confirmed the couple would now move to the former family home of the late Patrick J Hillery, former President of Ireland, in Spanish Point, which has previously been their holiday home.
Carolyn is from Limerick and she often travelled to beaches in West Clare on family outings when she was growing up.
Her father, Dr Michael Curtin, was the first consultant paediatrician to be based in Limerick when the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, opened in 1957 and he also had clinics in Nenagh and Ennis.
She is a member of Lahinch Golf Club and is looking forward to having a round of golf on Mondays when the club hosts ladies’ day.
She admitted it would be a difficult election for Fianna Fáil candidates. “I am worried whether disillusioned Fianna Fáil voters will come out to vote. It is important to get quality people in to fight for Clare.
“It looks like Fianna Fáil will be in opposition but you also need a strong opposition, who can fight for the causes that matter in Clare. We need to get out there and start selling Shannon Airport to get more people to use the airport,” Mrs Hillery said.

Continuing the Hillery legacy
DR John Hillery has said the political legacy left by his late father, Patrick J Hillery, former President of Ireland, will help him in his bid to win a Dáil seat at the forthcoming general election.
However, in an address to delegates at the Fianna Fáil Convention last Sunday, he was also keen to stress that people are not being asked to elect his father.
“When I was asked to do this, I was told ‘sure you will be a shoe-in, they all knew your father, they will give you a vote’. I was always proud to call my dad my best friend,” he recalled.
However, he pointed out, “You are not electing my father, he is gone. I am not my father. He was an extraordinary man. The more I learn about him and think about him, the more I realise I can’t take over from him either. But I have abilities, I have enthusiasm and I believe I am a fair man.”
He told delegates he was proud to stand before them as a Clare man and a Fianna Fáil man and noted that the party had made a big contribution to most of the good things that happened in the country over the last 80 years.
“While there has been a lot of talk about the need for change and the need for a national movement, there was a national movement made up of people in towns and villages and it was called Fianna Fáil.
“When the country was in trouble before, Fianna Fáil turned it around. I was born in a house where Fianna Fáil was a centre-left party and it was a party, which listened to its grassroots and used this for its party policy,” he said.
He expressed concern about the perception that some of the grassroots feel disconnected from the party, which he hopes to examine and address, if necessary.
He recalled the last time he was in the West County Hotel, he was with his late father listening to President Mary McAleese giving an address and remembered everywhere they went, Dr Hillery Snr was received very fondly by people.
He recalled coming with Eamonn de Valera on his last tour of Clare, stopping off at crossroads in towns and villages, going to TV Honan’s for a lemonade and being in houses when times were tough and when economic fortunes improved.
He is a member of the governing body of the University of Limerick and has often reminded his colleagues that the new Graduate Medical School is in Clare. While his wife, Carolyn, is from Limerick, she agreed that the boundary extension shouldn’t be extended into Clare.
He recalled invading the pitch in Croke Park in September 2009 with 2,000 school children and friends from West Clare when Clare defeated Kilkenny in the All-Ireland U-21 hurling final.
The consultant psychiatrist, who specialises in treating people with intellectual disabilities, confirmed he would have come to live in Clare a lot sooner if someone had created a post to suit his speciality.
He explained he decided to stand for election when a “great legislator” (Tony Killeen) shocked everyone by announcing he was stepping down and he was shocked when he was approached to stand for Fianna Fáil.
Anxious to make a contribution towards shaping a better economic future for the country, if elected, he felt this is important enough to give up a good secure job in Dublin.
“A lot of people I know are afraid to go to hospital. We should not have a situation in a modern country where people are afraid to get sick,” he said.
He expressed concern that the potential of tourism in Clare and Shannon Airport is not being fully realised.
“A lot of people in Fianna Fáil like me are sickened by what is being said about Fianna Fáil in the media. We have shown ourselves to be very resilient in Clare. Ask any Kerry man who went to Limerick in 1992 expecting a run-out in the Munster final but that isn’t what happened,” he concluded.

Clare Fianna Fáil defiant
LANGUISHING at record low levels of 14% in national opinion polls, Fianna Fáil has taken something of a hammering in recent months.
However, members of Clare Fianna Fáil were in a defiant mood judging by the large attendance at their General Election Selection Convention in the West County Hotel on Sunday afternoon.
Over 400 delegates and another 100 observers attended the convention, despite the fact it was widely known in the days leading up to the event that there would be no contest following the dramatic entry of Dr John Hillery.
An old-style fire and brimstone speech reminiscent of a speech given by politicians outside Sunday mass was delivered by local Fianna Fáil stalwart, John O’Rourke.
Mr O’Rourke acknowledged that the shock decision of Defence Minister to retire was a “big setback for the local organisation”.
Describing Dr Hillery as a candidate with new ideas, Mr O’Rourke predicted he would strengthen their organisation in the future and claimed that Timmy Dooley is a serious team player who has delivered for Clare people.
“We have gathered here today probably under a cloud but we don’t apologise to no one. We are Fianna Fáil, one of the biggest national parties founded by our forefathers in 1926.
“We have come through several crises and we have come out the other end. Let the media or anybody else, our critics or the Opposition doubt the strength of the Fianna Fáil.”
While Fianna Fáil were accused of many things, he recalled that “no one said stop” during the Celtic Tiger and years of Fianna Fáil-led Governments provided great roads and bypasses, the €32 million Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre, Ennis Bypass, Ennis hospital development and the Quilty, Mullagh and Feakle Sewerage Scheme “just to name but a few”.
He also recalled the never-to-be forgotten speech delivered by former President Paddy Hillery at the 1971 Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, when he put it up to opponents of Taoiseach Jack Lynch, “Ye can have Boland but ye can’t have Fianna Fáil”.
“We have come out of this and we will come out a better party. We had the arms crisis and they said we would not survive it.
“We had a man from Clare here who said ye can have anything but you wouldn’t have Fianna Fáil.”
He recalled when money was being given out in budgets, the Opposition criticised Fianna Fáil for not spending more and took everything. However, when the economic climate changed, they criticised the Government for spending too much.
He requested every delegate from Loop Head to Killaloe and from Caherdavin to Belharbour to go out and fight the general election like it was never fought before to elect two deputies.
His plea was echoed by Comhairle Dáil Ceantair chairman, Patrick Moloney, who stressed that securing two seats for Fianna Fáil would provide him with one of his proudest moments as a cumann member.

Supporters are left ‘disappointed and downtrodden’
CLARE Fianna Fáil supporters were left “galled, disappointed and downtrodden” following the intervention of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to support the beleaguered Irish economy, a local deputy has admitted.
In a wide-ranging address to the selection convention on Sunday, Deputy Timmy Dooley said Fianna Fáil made mistakes as a party from 2000 to 2007 when it allowed public spending to get out of control.
Deputy Dooley stressed everyone has to rise above the disappointment concerning the arrive of the IMF because without the access to funds, the country would not be able to get back on the road to recovery.
The Mountshannon man said he decided not to read the Sunday papers over the last few weeks because they tried to denigrate Fianna Fáil and “seek division where there was none”.
He acknowledged it wouldn’t be easy to retain the two seats but pledged to develop a plan and set of concrete proposals with Dr Hillery to put to the Clare electorate.
He recalled some people had said if Deputy Killeen had been promoted to the Cabinet sooner, some of the mistakes that were made may not have happened.
“We became overly dependant on taxation associated with property, we went a bit light on regulation for the banks. That economic model was prevalent throughout Europe.
“When you look at what happened during that period, the Opposition suggested we should spend more and tax less.
“They didn’t have any answers then so their advice now at this stage rings hollow. We need to accept our responsibility and move on.
“If we continue to look backwards it will not secure a future for this country. If you look back you learn, if you lean back you fall.
“Society has to put its shoulder to the wheel and plot a course through economic difficulty.
“This notion of not paying our debts is not on. We have to deal with this in partnership with other EU countries,” Deputy Dooley said.
He stressed the Government now has to deal with the huge mortgage debt that is bedevilling so many families in the country.