Labour candidates square up for general election nominations
by Ken Corla

A recent article in Phoenix magazine highlighted some tensions in the Labour Party over the selection of a running mate to for local TD in the next general election.

The article in the magazine’s “Young Bloods” slot featured a profile of local party councillor Patrick Nulty. Cllr. Nulty (27) who is regarded as being on the more left wing of the party is one of two potential candidates who have expressed an interest in seeking the nomination. As chairperson of Labour Youth he opposed the Mullingar pact between Fine Gael and Labour and publicly attacked the then party leader Pat Rabbitte over the issue. In a letter to The Irish Times in 2007 he accused Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny of “playing the race card” following a controversial speech on immigration.

Last year he was one of the few Labour councillors to publicly oppose the Lisbon Treaty – a stance which earned him a reprimand from party general secretary Ita McAuliffe.

Cllr. Nulty first expressed an interest in standing for the Mulhuddart ward of Fingal County Council some twelve months before last year’s local elections but was not selected based on the party’s gender balance policy as the party’s sitting councillor Michael O’Donovan was also standing.

However some twelve weeks before the election, the selected candidate, Ongar based Caoimhe McDermott was forced to withdraw and Nulty was added to the ticket. In the event he topped the poll with almost 1,900 votes and was elected along with Cllr. O’Donovan.

In a recent campaign against financial waste in the council, he raised the ire of some Fine Gael members for highlighting and questioning the validity of some forthcoming “conferences” in places such as Bermuda and Brazil. His proposal opposing the Brazilian junket was defeated with three of his labour party colleagues opposing his motion.

In the last general election Dublin West returned three TDs - Brian Lenihan (FF), Leo Varadkar (FG) and Joan Burton (Lab). Since then the constituency has been expanded to a four seater with the addition of some parts of Swords and sitting TD Joe Higgins (SP) who lost his seat in the last election is expected to be well placed to return to the Dáil. With Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael unlikely to field strong second candidates, some local Labour strategists argue that a radical left wing candidate could challenge Joe Higgins for the fourth seat.

However the word on the street is that the party leadership would prefer to see long time Swords councillor Tom Kelleher selected as Burton’s running mate. With most opinion polls indicating a likely Fine Gael coalition government next time around, the election of a radical left wing TD such as Patrick Nulty, who is opposed to such a coalition, would not be totally welcome in the higher echelons of the party.

The selection of Dublin West Labour Party ticket this autumn will be watched with particular interest. Battle lines are already being drawn. Interestingly, one of the three Labour councillors who opposed the Nulty motion to ban the Brazilian junket was his putative Swords opponent, Tom Kelleher.

Community Voice, Media House, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
Phone +353 1 822 1432 -  Fax +353 1 640 4444
info@communityvoice.ie

All content and images are © Perceptions[Publicity and Event Management] Limited. All rights reserved
Site developed by Vincent Cahill