FINE Gael’s director of elections, John Collins, said the party will engage in some ‘soul searching’ after missing out on a seat in its historic heartland of Cork South West in a second successive election.
‘There will be an internal review and probably a meeting with members before Christmas so we can arrive at a plan for the future,’ Mr Collins told The Southern Star.
Fine Gael’s vote actually increased in this election – having gone up to 23.5% from the 18.9% it received when the party ran Sen Tim Lombard and Cllr Karen Coakley in the 2020 general election.
Sen Tim Lombard, who indicated that he is now considering his political future, was selected once again, this time alongside Cllr Noel O’Donovan, who returned to local government in the June local elections.
But frontrunner Cllr Noel O’Donovan would have needed 80% of Sen Lombard’s transfers in the 11th and final count to take the third seat.
According to John Collins, there was a worry among Fianna Fáil observers going into the final count and ‘a glimmer of hope’ that Fine Gael would get up to 80%. ‘But to be fair, that was a bridge too far, especially when the national average for Fine Gael transfers in this election was 36%,’ he added.
The director of elections confirmed that Cllr O’Donovan got 60% of transfers from his running mate Sen Lombard, while Christopher O’Sullivan picked up 1,824 transfers, which amounted to 40% of the votes distributed.
There had been much media speculation about the lack of a divisional divide within the constituency, which normally would have been part of FG’s vote management strategy.
However, on this occasion, as Mr Collins explained: ‘It was the first time in many years that we didn’t have a divisional divide because we were trying to guarantee transfers from one candidate to the other.
‘Our goal was to win a seat in Cork South West. Had we the possibility of winning two seats, there would have been a divisional divide,’ he said.
He also pointed out that Fine Gael had the highest vote of any party in Cork South West, but they might not have achieved 23.5% if they ran only one candidate.
The director said Fine Gael was facing ‘a mammoth task’ in trying to win back the historic Fine Gael seat because incumbents are always in a stronger position going into an election, especially when the election campaign is just three weeks long.
He declined to speculate on what the future now holds for Sen Lombard and Cllr O’Donovan, and whether either will seek a seat in the Seanad.
‘I can’t put words in their mouths about what the future holds for them,’ he added. ‘Everybody, after the weekend, will need to take time and consider their future, because being a public representative is a tough job and requires a lot of work. There is a bit of soul-searching to be done,’ he added.
‘It is disappointing for us but in situations like this you have to dust yourself down and start planning for the next election.’
Mr Collins stressed how important it is for the party to have an Oireachtas member based in the constituency.
‘It’s a link with the national parliament. It keeps the constituency offices open and allows us to build for the future,’ he concluded.
