Labour row over candidate choice in Sligo-N Leitrim

Conor McMorrow

Susan O'Keeffe: 'parachute candidate'

A ROW has erupted within Labour ranks in the Sligo-North Leitrim constituency over the selection of the party's candidate for the next general election.

Veronica Cawley, a councillor and local member of the party for 18 years, is livid that Labour headquarters overlooked her and instead selected Susan O'Keeffe, the party's unsuccessful 2009 Euro election candidate for the Ireland North-West constituency.

When the local Labour Party organisation held its convention to select the general election candidate on 23 June, Cawley and O'Keeffe went before the membership in a vote.

After the two candidates got 71 votes each, it was then decided to choose the general election candidate by a draw from a hat. But Cawley's delight at being drawn from the hat was short-lived when it was announced that under Labour Party rules it is the name that is left in the hat that wins, so O'Keefe was declared the winner.

Subsequently, it emerged that neither Cawley nor O'Keeffe won as new party rules dictate that the issue of selection be handled by Labour's executive board when there is a tie at convention. So on 10 July both candidates travelled to Dublin where they were asked to give a presentation in front of the executive.

Thirteen of the 14 people on the executive board voted on the best candidate. Ten chose O'Keeffe and three went for Cawley.

"I have been involved in the party for 18 years and have been a councillor for 11," Cawley said. "A lot of people are not happy about what happened. I came into the Labour Party 18 years ago through Siptu and I have never been a member of any other party or wanted to be a member of any other party."

Local Labour sources are angry as they see O'Keefe as a "parachute candidate" who has only been living in Sligo for a few years and who works for the party in Dublin.

O'Keeffe said, "People who come forward to get involved in politics are welcome to come forward at any time and from any walk of life. There is no rule that you have to be involved for 10 or 15 years."

July 25, 2010

Comments

#1 owen commented, on July 25, 2010 at 10:52 p.m.:

The fairest way would be to run both candidates and let the people decide(that is the beauty of P.R.)Perhaps with a high spring tide they would both be in the next dail?With bad feelings perhaps neither.

#2 Jim O'Sullivan commented, on July 26, 2010 at 1:33 p.m.:

Labour has destroyed any chance that might have existed to win a seat here and efforts were made to draw the error to their attention. The fact that the Executive eventually made the choice has drawn comparisons for many in the constituency with the manner in which the region lost its breast cancer services. That decision too was made by a committee sitting in Dublin and with no representative from the area on it. Labour must think this one out again and do as the people of the constituency want and not those running the party from Dublin. Cawley must be on the ticket.

#3 Danny commented, on July 26, 2010 at 7:12 p.m.:

Cawley is not that liked in Sligo, so I think that Labour have made the more realistic decision here. Whether Cawley feels that she has been denied her entitlements, and will now make things awkward on O'Keeffe, will be interesting to see how it develops.

#4 Jim O'Sullivan commented, on July 27, 2010 at 9:22 a.m.:

Stop whistling past the graveyard Danny, Cawley is by far the better candidate because she is known across the entire constituency. As has been pointed out, she was born and reared in Sligo while her parents are from Leitrim. Susan on the other hand was born in Dublin and is living in Sligo for 2 years and is hardly known at all. I am not a member of the Labour Party but have tried to alert the mandarins in Dublin to their mistake. The rumour doing the rounds here in Sligo now is that Labour have written off winning a seat in Sligo/North Leitrim and are planning to nominate Susan to a Seanad seat after the next GE. These antics are a kick in the teeth to all those who have supported Labour through thick and thin over the years and places the party on a par with the cute hoorism of the Fianna Fail party. In the interests of the party this needs to be urgently looked at again.

#5 Mark Timoney commented, on July 31, 2010 at 9:33 p.m.:

Folks as PRO of the Labour Party executive council in Sligo North Leitrim I feel maybe I should try to clear up a few issues that seem to be misrepresented here.
Firstly there is no split in the party regarding the selection of Ms O Keeffe to run for the election, there are a number of people who are disappointed for Cllr Cawley as she has been a stalwart for the party for the last 18 years and we hope in the future. Ms O Keeffe is not a parachute candidate and seeing as she contested the European Parliament Elections in the West for Labour is now proving herself to be more than a flash in the pan or indeed a parachute candidate as she is being called at. Ms O Keeffe is a solid vote getter and a committed Labour Party member and the decision of The Executive Board was to select her at this time. It is however felt in some circles that the reason for her selection was that Cllr Cawley declared herself as an election candidate and also put herself forward for election to the Executive Board of the Party at conference in April, this was perceived by many people within the party as a conflict of interests on Cllr Cawleys behalf and sent out a perceived signal that she didn't know what she wanted to achieve within the party and may have ultimately cost her the candidacy for the next election.
However I feel it apt to let you know that the party is united with regards contesting the election and gaining a Labour seat for Sligo/North Leitrim in the next election and it does not matter who the candidate is that is to contest that seat.
The unfortunate thing is at this time was that both Cllr Cawley and Ms O Keeffe could not have both contested the election, maybe next time.
Also I feel it neccessary to refute Mr O Sullivans comment that Labour have written off winning a seat in Sligo/North Leitrim. Labour see this constituency as a difficult one to win a seat as due to the number of seats available but are fully committed to doing just that.
I myself am looking forward to what will be a gripping contest in which the real victor will be the Sligo/ North Leitrim constituency

Name	(Required, published)
Email address	(Required, not published)
URL	(Optional)
Comment
If you enter anything in this field your comment will be treated as spam

Comments

Post a comment

Also in News

Share this article

Search

This issue 5 years ago

RSS Feeds