BEV SAILS HOME AT CONVENTION SHOWDOWN
3 Jul 1996
By TOM GILLESPIE
Ms. Beverley Cooper-Flynn, the 30-years old daughter of EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn has been selected as the fourth Fianna Fail candidate to contest the next General Election in the new Mayo 5-seater constituency.She had a 68-vote surplus over Castlebar based County Councillor, Al McDonnell when the 788 delegates voted at a convention in the Travellers Friend Hotel and Theatre, Castlebar on Sunday night.
The three sitting party Dail Deputies, P.J. Morley, Seamus Hughes and Tom Moffatt were selected en block on the proposal of County Councillor Paddy Oliver and seconded by colleague Jack Heneghan.
Five nominations then came forward for the fourth runner -- Frank Chambers, Tim Quinn , Seamus McCormack, Al McDonnell and Beverley Cooper-Flynn. Chambers, Quinn and McCormack withdrew leaving it a straight vote between Cooper-Flynn and McDonnell.
The proceedings were conducted by former Justice Minister Maire Geoghegan-Quinn from Galway.
When the 788 votes were counted 425 went to Cooper-Flynn and 357 to McDonnell. The quota was set at 392, there were six spoiled votes and the valid poll was 782.
Mr. McDonnell said it was now time to get the party machine oiled for the next General Election. He assured all of the candidates of his total support for the next general election.
He said: "It is only with total unity that we can win three of the five seats next time round and three of the five seats we will get." He said party members should vote one to four in order of their choice of the FF candidates.
Ms. Cooper-Flynn said she knew Fianna Fail was alive and well in the Mayo Constituency. They now had an important job to do and that was to win the three seats.
Unity in Fianna Fail was important, she said.
The healing of wounds seemed evident from the outset of the convention. It was a far cry from the last outing when the McDonnell, Cooper-Flynn and Chambers camps wee determined to undermine each other.
Now, Fianna Fail go forward as one and the challenge will be as to who will be the losers in the new 5-seater arrangement. All four cannot be successful and the three Fine Gael runners, Ministers Enda Kenny and Jim Higgins and Deputy Michael Ring, are confident of holding their seats.
Then there is the possibility of an independent candidate entering the
General Election race. But for the moment the glory goes to Beverley
Cooper-Flynn who was the clear winner at the Fianna Fail convention.
Connaught Telegraph - News - July 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sport - July 1996
