The gloves have finally come off ahead of the June 7 local election with a high-profile Fianna Fáil member yesterday accusing Sinn Féin of putting forward candidates who don’t have a “serious chance” just to have a candidate running in every area.
Fianna Fáil director of elections for Clare, Gerry Reidy, said that while Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) and Donna McGettigan (SF) were strong candidates, he “wouldn’t be threatened” by the other candidates put forward by Sinn Féin.
Responding to this suggestion, Sinn Féin’s director of elections for Clare, Finbarr MacGabhann, said that the party didn’t field candidates “for the craic”.
He also said that it was Mr Reidy’s job to “come up with stories” about rival parties.
Speaking to The Clare Champion yesterday, Mr Reidy said that Sinn Féin were fielding candidates just for the optics of it.
“They have some good candidates in Clare and I think that they will make some gains, particularly in Ennis, but I’m not sure about the idea of running candidates across each of the local election areas,” he said.
“I think they are putting names forward for the optics more than anything else, and I don’t think that some of their candidates have a serious chance. I think they probably know that as well.
Read the full story in this week’s Clare Champion as part of our 17 page local election special including profiles of every candidate.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and blogger who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.