Election not good for country says Dooley

A CLARE TD said a general election is not in the best interest of the country, despite claims by some commentators that one could be held before the Budget.
Deputy Timmy Dooley told The Clare Champion that while such a scenario would probably work out well for his party, it is not the right thing to do for the country.
Speculation about a possible general election began after the resignation on Tuesday of Donegal North-East TD Dr Jim McDaid brought the total number of empty seats in Dáil Éireann to four and saw the Government majority diminish to just three seats.
In a subsequent interview with a local radio station in Donegal, Dr McDaid said he believes Ireland should hold its general election before the budget.
This was followed by the High Court decision on Wednesday to uphold a challenge by Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty to the Government’s refusal to hold a by-election in Donegal South-West. The seat was vacated by Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher when he ran for election to the European parliament nearly 18 months ago.
The Green Party, at a Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday evening, told its coalition partners it believed the Donegal South-West by-election should be held immediately with the remaining by-elections to be held in the spring. This was a view echoed by one of the country’s only Green Party county councillors, Ennis’ Brian Meaney.
Deputy Timmy Dooley said he believed the by-elections will be held “sooner rather than later based on the court decision”.
“I don’t think there will be a general election in the short term. The by-elections will be held and if the Government has a working majority, there is a lot of work yet to be done,” Deputy Dooley stated.
A general election before what promises to be a savage budget, some would argue, would be a blessing for Fianna Fáil, a party’s whose popularity reached record lows recently.
“When you are elected, you take on a role as you find it. If we were trying to keep our seats or look after ourselves, of course a general election before the Budget would suit us, if we were to look at things purely on a personal basis. But when you are elected, it carries with it a responsibility to do what is right for the country rather than what is right for yourself. Therefore, you have to take decisions and deal with things as you find them not as you would like them to be,” the Fianna Fáil TD continued.
Deputy Dooley acknowledged that he would be worried for his own seat if an election is called in the near future.
“Of course I would be worried on a personal level but I can’t allow my personal concerns to guide me politically when my responsibility is not to myself it is to the wider electorate.
“Shirking away from hard decisions because they are not good for you politically would represent cowardice and would represent an inability to do what is right,” he concluded.