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LAST UPDATE | 25 Oct 2018
THERE WAS UTTER confusion within Fianna Fáil this evening as a candidate for the next local elections in the Northern Ireland was announced without the full backing of the party.
At an event in Tyrone this evening, councillor Sorcha McAnespy, who is already a member of the party’s national executive, was announced as the party’s candidate in the local elections.
The media, including TheJournal.ie, reported the story after senior party members made official, on-the-record statements about the announcement.
Standing next to TD Éamon Ó Cuív, the spokesperson on Regional Development, Rural Affairs and the Gaeltacht, as well as Senator Mark Daly, McAnespy is holding a photo of herself with the Fianna Fail branding.
This evening, the two politicians announced that they were the directors for her election campaign.
McAnespy claims Fianna Fáil party leader Micheál Martin informed her that she will be a Fianna Fáil Party candidate in the Northern Ireland local elections.
“There is an appetite now more than ever for Fianna Fáil to contest elections in Northern Ireland. Micheál Martin made the commitments in 2013 to contest local elections in 2019 and I was delighted when he confirmed I would be a candidate for Fianna Fáil in the upcoming local elections in 2019,” she said.
However, the party rolled back on tonight’s announcement in a tweet, stating:
Following tonight’s confusion, McAnespy said she was informed by Martin that she would be supported by the party at a private meeting which took place a number of months ago.
“I was informed of this by Michael Martin that I would be supported by the party at a private meeting with him this meeting took place a couple of months ago,” she said after Fianna Fail’s tweet this evening.
However, when asked repeatedly to confirm if Martin did state this to McAnespy, a party spokesperson said “no comment”.
President of Ógra Fianna Fail Ian Woods has since tweeted that McAnespy’s version of events is accurate.
It is believed that party HQ does not class the event in Tyrone as an “official party event” and that only the leader of the party and the Ard Comhairle can make a decision about who can run as a candidate.
It is understood that some within the party believe Ó’ Cuiv and Daly went solo announcing her candidacy tonight without having the authority to do so.
Daly told TheJournal.ie that as a “party member, a public representative and member of the national executive, she [McAnespy] is entitled to have a Fianna Fáil meeting any time”.
At tonight’s event, which party sources state was not an official party event, O’Cuiv said he believed that Fianna Fáil standing in the north will “help to give proper representation to the people concerned with the day-to-day issues, we will offer fresh thinking and challenge the status quo of Sinn Féin and DUP which has lead to the shutting of Stormont and dysfunctional politics”.
Daly said the party has a vision for Omagh, Tyrone, Northern Ireland and the whole island “that encompasses but also listen to views from across the spectrum, as a party we are strong enough in our identity so that we can reach out to others and realise that a shared future is possible”.
He added that he believed McAnespy’s candidacy launch would be the first of many in the north.
McAnespy was the first councillor to quit Sinn Féin over an alleged culture of misogyny, as reported in The Irish Independent last year.
She has spoken out about being exposed to a “toxic” atmosphere within Sinn Féin after she tried to strike alliances with unionists and other political opponents, which she claims forced her to quit Sinn Féin just two years after she topped the poll for the party in the local elections.
The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has long been considering running candidates in the north.
In an interview about running candidates, Martin told TheJournal.ie in December that such a move was an “ongoing issue in the party” and did not rule out the prospect.
“Step by step,” he said.
Earlier this year, Martin told the national executive that preparations were at an advanced stage, adding that an announcement was expected in the autumn.
It is understood there is substantial support within the parliamentary party for organising in the north.
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First time I’ve seen it occupied in a while in fairness
I saw it – huge admiration to the pair for caring enough to do this…
Fair enough in my book. Well done to protesters. They’ve at the very least raised awareness about this. I for one didn’t know about the failure to compensate. Best of luck.
Me neither.
They’ll never see the “united colours” of my money!
What a dump of a store…. I’ve never seen a single thing in it I’d ever want to buy…
Apart from one Garda who was on the scene the protest seemed to be a peaceful one..
Are you suggesting the gardai would cause the protest not to be peaceful?
Occupy Wool Street?
Jeez and Dunnes workers think their working conditions are bad.
So you want to live in Bangladesh?
Chill Kevin, tragedies like this one are horrific and all I am saying is in comparative terms Dunnes workers have little to be complaining about.
Well if you compare it to footballers who have no need for qualifications and get to play football all day for 150k a week they do have something to complain about. What’s your point??
Dunnes workers don’t have to work in mortal danger to earn the right to complain about their conditions
Comparitive to denis obrien they deserve a wage increase of 100000%
My point for the third time, when you hear of awful tragedies like this where thousands perish at work it puts things into perspective how good our working conditions are here.
My minimum wage flexi hour contract severely disagrees with you
Throw away the shovel, Top Cat. You’re on a loser on this one.
He is right though Said the unpopular opinion puffin
In the first photo Benetton appears to be spelled Bennetton and in the third photo survivors is spelled Survivers… I’ll bet any takers not a single one of them can find Bangladesh on a map.
In fact I’m slightly disappointed not to see an attempt to write Bangladesh… I’m sure that would have been good for a laugh.
Have these people no jobs to go to, what about the inconvenience to shoppers, wasting police resources and so on and so forth.
How about not being a heartless tool, and so on and so forth
some waffle outta you kid !
wipe the shiite off yer lip
How about looking up sarcasm in a dictionary? In case you haven’t noticed these are the usual lines thrown out about water charge protesters.
The only thing I noticed was the shiite on yer lip
It could be worse it could be between my ears.
sorry Niall – didnt get the sarcasm at all man -
Oh Niall! I hate to say this but…!
Surprised protesters are allowed in the store.
Down with that sort of thing.
Cianan his name is Gerry Lydon not Donal.
The company’s failure to own up to the disaster and pay their contribution has nothing to do with store itself though! These protesters are jeopardising the employers and employees safety and privacy, by carelessly protesting in the middle of the store, and that is by no means peaceful. They are absolutely right to raise awareness but if they want effective results, why not contact the head office of the company itself? Why not go there and protest? What about the other stores around the country? This poorly organised protest is just an attention-seeking bid from individuals who are just protesting for the sake of it.
Hi guys. Gerry here. I helped organize and was involved with today’s protest. Just a few points : Neuromacer its easy to walk into a store that isn’t expecting. Drew go out and play with the traffic! Those talking about dunnes : Yes our lives are infinitely better but as we saw with some of the thongs they were fightong for, if employers get a taste for exploitation, in a globalized world we can feel the effect here as well as regard zero hours, union involvement etc. Anca I gonna presume your not the sort who ever actually does anything judging by the tone of your “whats the point of action comment”. While Id like to dismiss you as a waste of space, unfortunately your apathy and cynicism is quote common so to summarize getting publicity for a neglected cause is better than sitting round moaning. But as for the jeopatdizing safety and privacy, go back to sleep and stop throwing around terms! Ill see you in the morning glen. So finally nothing comes of nothing. If you care about something, put some effort in and get out there! The smallest acorns can become a big tree or at least a feature on a popular website! X.
Good on ye Gerry, hope you managed to stop them making sales today.
Because it would have damn all impact . Go up to the head office here and say, please play nicely and pay the money you owe? We all know most big corporations have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. These people have had two years to pay the money they pledged. Time for them to be shamed into stumping up.
Hi Gerry, I dont think the Dunnes strike had anything to do with underwear.
A bottle of Lynx would get rid of them protestors! I’d say there’s an awful stink of piss in that shop at the moment.
They do make some nice clothes though
have your say