To describe the constituency of Clare as a Fianna Fáil stronghold would be something of an under-statement, given that it was represented by Eamon DeValera continuously from 1921 until his election as President in 1959. Clare should be more properly regarded as the birthplace of Fianna Fáil, and the party’s spiritual home – which is one reason why the last outing here in 2020 was such a disappointment to the soldiers of destiny.
At that election, the party achieved 34% of the vote in Clare, but came away with only one of the four seats. To make matters worse, it was then TD and now Senator Timmy Dooley who lost out to newcomer Cathal Crowe, which was notable because Dooley is the first captain general of that strange species of human being known as “Micheál Martin loyalists”, which is presumably why he was swiftly offered a Taoiseach’s nomination to the Seanad to make up for the loss.
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