Kenny ”puts the cat amongst the pigeons”

Date Published: {J}

That national opinion poll at the weekend showing a significant rise in the level of support for Fianna Fáil, will have caused some head-scratching in the ranks of Fine Gael – but out in Galway East the cause of talk has been Enda Kenny’s promotion for Senator Ciaran Cannon.

The promotion was revealed in a communiqué from Fine Gael HQ headed “Kenny appoints Cannon as Seanad Spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs.”

But coming from Enda Kenny, as a politician who is completely attuned to the ways of things down in the constituencies among the ordinary rank-and-file backbencher Dáil Deputies, the Fine Gael leader must have known that in Galway East it would “put the cat amongst the pigeons” in a big way.

For, in Fine Gael ranks in Galway East, relationships have been somewhat strained in the months since former Progressive Democrat Leader Senator Cannon was admitted into Fine Gael – with whispers in the background that when FG were courting Cannon to join up the FG ranks, FG handlers gave Cannon some sort of undertaking that he would be on the Fine Gael ticket in Galway East at the next General Election.

For instance, it is hardly likely that the camp followers of long-serving FG Dail Deputy Ulick Burke – who operates in the same neck of the woods in the Galway East constituency as Senator Cannon – would be sending congratulatory bouquets in the direction of Cannon. He surely must be seen as a long-term threat to the Burke seat in the southern end of Galway East constituency.

The rivalry between Burke and Cannon was behind that rather publicised ‘spat’ between Ulick Burke and Enda Kenny which took place at a Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting. Admittedly, that was some time ago now, but in my opinion it showed the strength of the determination of the Burke camp to fight-off any challenge from Cannon to a seat which Ulick Burke first contested way back in 1981, when he got 4,300 first preferences. He stood at four elections in the eighties.

Burke was first elected to the Dáil in 1997, lost the seat in 2002 and regained it in 2007 – so he has been ‘been through the winger’ for Fine Gael in a four-seater where that second FG seat has almost always been ‘touch and go’. Having come up the hard way over all those years, it is difficult now to blame him for fighting like a tiger for his electoral bailiwick.

Cannon, who got 3,200 first preferences as a PD in the 2007 General Election, passed his first electoral test for Fine Gael in the June Local Elections when he succeeded in getting his chosen candidate, Michael Mogie Maher, elected to an FG seat in Galway County Council. That test also showed, not for the first time, that Cannon can put a formidable machine into an electoral contest.

However, first let’s get that official press release regarding Cannon’s Senate spokesman appointment – from the national FG press office – out of the way. It said: “Fine Gael Party Leader, Enda Kenny, today (Thursday) announced the appointment of Senator Ciaran Cannon as the party’s Seanad Spokesperson on Children and Youth Affairs.

Speaking following the appointment Enda Kenny was quoted as saying: “Senator Cannon will bring a wealth of experience to this portfolio and I am confident he will have great success in his new role. I know that Senator Cannon is looking forward to working with his Fine Gael colleagues in the Senate and making an impact nationally and locally on this important issue.”

For more, read page 12 of this week’s Connacht Tribune.