Councillors have said that they will not vote for any Independent Senator in future Seanad elections if they fail to support independent candidates in the race for the Áras.
Kilkenny councillor Maurice Shortall, who previously raised the issue of independent councillors being blocked by the political parties in the nomination process, said that “councillors elect senators. I will be voting for no independent senators that don’t show support for independent presidential candidates regardless of who they are.”
Forty-three Seanad seats across five panels are filled by an electorate made up of members of the Oireachtas and city and county councillors – and twelve out of a total of sixty seats in the senate are held by Independents since the election in January of this year.
The elected Independent Senators are: Francis Black, Victor Boyhan, Joe Conway, Gerard Craughwell, and Sharon Keogan. Senator Eileen Flynn was nominated by an Taoiseach, while Tom Clonan, Michael McDowell, Aubrey McCarthy, Rónán Mullen, Mary-Alice Higgins and Lynn Ruane are elected by the universities.
Cllr Shortall urged the Senators who had been elected with the assistance of Independent councillors to “just have a backbone and a stance”. Tipperary County Council nominated independent Gareth Sheridan on yesterday, while other candidates including barrister Maria Steen and businessman Nick Delehanty are also seeking county council nominations.
Councillor Gavin Pepper, who sits on Dublin City Council said that he fully agreed with the Kilkenny councillor’s call. He had previously called on Fianna Fáil’s candidate Jim Gavin to call for an independent candidate to be allowed to be nominated in the interest of democracy.
Other councillors who spoke to Gript said that they said would be disappointed if senators who had relied on independent councillors for support then failed to assist when non-party candidates were seeking a nomination for the Presidential election.
Cllr Albert Deasy said that he agreed with the sentiment expressed by Cllr Shortall and that he had voted for the Senators because he “expected them to be a strong voice for Independents and would promote a strong independent candidate”.
Cllr Gerry O’Neill, who is a member of Wicklow County Council, also said that he was in agreement with making support for Seanad candidates conditional on whether Senators now supported Independent candidates.
Leitrim and Limerick councils heard from independent candidates today, but a decision on nomination will not be given until Monday.
Yesterday, Tipperary Fine Gael Councillor, Mary Hanna Hourigan, criticised her party HQ for seeking to whip local representatives in regard to the presidential nomination.
The Cashel-Tipperary councillor ignored orders from the party headquarters not to support Independent candidates, telling RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: “I’m not going to be whipped to say or do something I don’t believe in.”
She said diktats from party headquarters are “not fair”, insisting she was elected by the people of Tipperary and should be free to “vote the way I want”.
“We got a directive from Fine Gael HQ that we were not to vote for another candidate … and I don’t think that is fair,” she said.
“I am elected locally by the people in the Cashel-Tipperary area to represent them. I should be able to vote the way I want, freely,” she added.