IN a very public spat with Tánaiste Micheál Martin, EU candidate Senator Niall Blaney accused Fianna Fáil of not supporting his campaign to take a European seat for the Midlands North West Constituency which now has five MEP posts available.
The Fanad born candidate is one of just two candidates from Donegal standing in the sprawling constituency, the other being former presidential candidate and businessman, Peter Casey. Fianna Fáil are fielding three candidates here, Barry Cowan, Senator Lisa Chambers and Senator Blaney.
Senator Blaney publicly accused the Tánaiste of not giving his campaign the support he felt it deserved at a news conference on Friday.
“Unfortunately, I’m not getting the same support as other candidates are getting in this campaign, and that’s a problem for me, it has been for weeks,” he said.
“I’ve never had any opportunity to appear on national television yet, I’m the only candidate of six for whom that has been the case and that’s not just about me, that’s about the people I represent.”
“If the Tánaiste goes to canvas with candidates, he goes with all three and if he goes to do videos with one candidate, he needs to do it for all three,” Senator Blaney said.
Speaking to the Donegal News yesterday Senator Blaney said it was a spat and that he has been working hard now on the campaign trail for a year.
“They don’t realise the deficit we have here in the border and Connaught counties and I am getting on with the campaign to represent the people who need it,” he said.
The Tánaiste moved quickly to diffuse the very public spat telling the media gathered at the news conference as well as Senator Blaney that he was “not getting into a public discussion on the logistics of a campaign at a press conference”.
Meanwhile Senator Blaney maintains that Fianna Fáil taking a second EU seat is “doable” and warning his party not to put all of their “eggs in one basket”.
He said Fianna Fáil needs to be ambitious and believe it can be victorious and not adopt a passive stance towards the border counties and Connacht.
“Our party seems to be in panic mode and, after bizarrely adding three candidates to the ticket, now seems intent on throwing two of them overboard and settling for one seat and, in turn, giving up on representation for Connacht and the border counties.
“We are the most deprived region in Ireland and when it comes to infrastructure, we rank 218 out of 234 in the EU while the South constituency remains comfortable at No. 2. Apart from the Belfast route, not one penny has been spent on motorway work north of the Galway-Dublin line and that is an indictment of our decision-makers.
“I want to end the isolation of border counties and Connacht and the appalling lack of investment in our region,” Senator Blaney said.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)