Hanafin says she will 'give all' to help rebuild party

DÚN LAOGHAIRE:FORMER FIANNA Fáil minister Mary Hanafin has promised to continue in politics after losing her seat in Dún Laoghaire.

She and party colleague former minister for children Barry Andrews lost their seats along with Green Party former minister for planning Ciarán Cuffe.

Ms Hanafin said it was a disappointment to her to lose her seat and it had been a “rare privilege” to serve as a female minister in government for 11 years. “It’s not over yet, this is only another step along my political road,” she said.

She said she was really sorry the party had lost so many good people around the country.

“It’s been a very bad day for Fianna Fáil there is no doubt, particularly bad in the city but we will rebuild,” she said. “We, the leaders of this party, whether we are inside or out, we have to lead now and go back to the values we always stood for.”

She said she would take on whatever role party leader Micheál Martin wished her to have. “I want to be a part of it in whatever capacity. I’ll do it because politics is in my blood, it has been my life and it will probably continue to be my life in one form or other and I will give it my all,” Ms Hanafin said. On Saturday, in an early visit to the count centre, Mr Andrews rejected the suggestion he should have moved to the Dublin South constituency so that there would only be one Fianna Fáil candidate contesting Dún Laoghaire.

“On no, absolutely not, this is my home and it always will be,” he said. It was too early to make decisions about his future, he said.

“I’ll go home and see the kids and apologise for the total neglect over the last couple of weeks. I’ll think about that another day,” he said.