A dozen hopefuls vie for Mayo seats
21 May 1997
By TOM GILLESPIE
There will be twelve candidates vying for the five seats when we go to the General Election polls in the new Mayo constituency on Friday June 6. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have four runners each with one each of the Green and National parties. There will be two independents.
Sitting Fine Gael representatives Ministers Enda Kenny and Jim Higgins along with hard working Michael Ring will be hoping to retain their respective seats in the 28th Dail. Party colleague Ernie Caffrey in Ballina is expected to put in a good showing and may even affect some of the sitting FG members.
In the Fianna Fail camp the three sitting TD's Seamus Hughes, Tom Moffatt and PJ Morley will be striving to hold onto their seats while Beverley Cooper-Flynn is hotly tipped to regain the Castlebar seat, last held by her father EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn.
The Green Party's Ann Crowley is delighted by her canvass to date and believes she will collect a sizeable vote, but not enough to take a seat.
Ciarán Sherry of the National Party will be in a similar position but will not poll as well as the greens.
On the independent candidates, Richard Finn, a member of Mayo County Council, in Claremorris has a large following and will take votes, particularly from Jim Higgins.
Ballina's Gerry Ginty, a member of the local Urban Council, has already a groundswell of support and has undertaken an extensive canvas.
Unfortunately, all of the runners cannot be successful and the end result will be a 3-2 party situation with either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail coming out on top.
The is the stark situation that a sitting TD has to go as the constituency has been reduced from a six to a five seater. If Beverley Cooper-Flynn takes a seat, and it seems likely that she will, then two of the sitting members could lose out.
The trend in Mayo, pundits forecast, could reflect the national scene. So if Fine Gael or Fianna Fail take three they will be in the majority situation after June 6.
The fact the Labour are not fielding a candidate in Mayo, does not auger well for the party and may be an indication that they will not do as well nationally this time out.
The historic Friday voting may be a plus for some of the candidates as it will ensure that third level students attending college outside the constituency will have the opportunity of returning to vote by the 10 pm deadline.
The candidates have until noon on Monday to nominate. Already both Fianna fail and Fine Gael handed in their papers and £300 deposits to returning officer Fintan Murphy at the Castlebar Circuit Court office yesterday (Tuesday).
Nominations close on Monday
The latest time for receiving nominations for the General Election is 12 noon on Monday (May 26).
Candidates may withdraw their nominations up to 12 noon the following day.
A deposit of £300 is required and is refunded if the candidate receives more than one-quarter of votes required for election.
To stand for election, a candidate must be a citizen of Ireland and be at least 21 years of age. A person may nominate him/herself as a candidate or, with his/her consent may be nominated by a person who is registered as an elector in the constituency concerned. On election day, Friday June 6, polling will be from 8 am to 10 pm.
Countrywide there are 41 constituencies from which 166 members will be returned to the new Dail.
