Fianna Fail’s Halpin Leech Whelan Cumann has slammed the recommendations in last Wednesday’s constituency boundary review by the Electoral Commission, saying that it “imprisons” Drogheda in the Louth constituency.
Speaking to Drogheda Life, cumann chairman Anthony Moore said that it was “deeply disappointing that Drogheda remains, in effect, imprisoned in the Louth constituency, with which it has very little in common.
“Ideally, it should have been amalgamated with East Meath, its natural hinterland with which it has many shared economic and social interests, and formed into a three seat constituency. What is proposed is really bad news for the cohesive development and future prosperity of Drogheda” he said.
In Moore’s view, the Commission’s recommendations, if given effect, will require tough decisions for all the political parties locally in terms of candidate selection.
With regard to FF, he said: “For instance, under normal circumstances, as FF’s general election candidate in 2020, Cllr. James Byrne could have expected to be re-nominated to run in the next general election. The difficulty is that in 2020, he got a very disappointing first preference vote, just over 5% of votes cast, and was eliminated from the count at an early stage.
“Now with the loss of the strong East Meath FF vote on foot of the Commission’s recommendations, it is pretty clear that Cllr. Byrne will likely struggle to win a seat for the party in the next general election. It seems that FF will have to find a new candidate.”
In that regard, Moore also pointed out that increasing the number of TDs and constituencies, in accordance with the Commission’s recommendations, will require the political parties to increase the number of female candidates at the next election to ensure compliance with statutory gender quotas.
“All in all, it seems to me that if FF is to put itself in contention for a seat in South Louth at the next election, it will have to give serious consideration to having a locally-based female candidate with a strong track record of community involvement. This would be a progressive move by the party, one with which, in my view, many members locally would be in agreement.”
Moore encouraged anyone interested in representing FF in Louth at the next election or, indeed, in the local elections in 2024, to make themselves known to the party at local and national level in the weeks and months ahead.
