Labour's one direction; Cannon and balls; Brian and Ronan; Driving around

X factor past for Willie on the stump

AS THE Labour Party continues its search for candidates – bright young things under the age of sixty welcome – Dáil dead cert Willie Penrose is heading in One Direction with the support of Ireland’s latest rising star.

The Longford/Westmeath deputy tells us Niall Horan is a Labour man, and as any teenage girl will tell you, young Horan is a member of the boyband One Direction. The band made it to the final of The X-Factor and was signed by Simon Cowell after the competition. Mega-pop stardom now beckons for Cowell’s winsome collection of raging hormones.

Seventeen year old Niall comes from a strong Labour family and, along with his father Bobby, he canvassed for Penrose during the 2007 election.

“He’s a lovely lad — very impish and a bit of a character” says Willie. “He was a great one for keeping the spirits up during a long canvass; a gas lad who always has a twinkle in his eye.” Deputy Penrose would love to see Niall joining him on a few doorsteps again next year, but he doesn’t hold out much hope of that happening.

“He’d be very useful to have but I think my chances may be lessening by the hour.” The youngster didn’t get a chance to do much singing last time out. “If anyone disturbs me at the canvassing I can be a bit of an aul curmudgeon” admits Willie. “You’d see him shaping up to sing a song, but I wanted to get on with the work.” He says fame won’t go to the lad’s head: “I’ve no doubt Niall will go far, but he’ll be level headed. He comes from a great working class family with a marvellous work ethic. His father Bobby is a true Westmeath man, every step of the way.

I’m delighted for Niall and the family. It’s amazing — I never thought I was driving around with a pop star!”

Ruffled feathers

Fun and games in the west last following Fine Gael’s selection conventions in Galway.

Feathers are ruffled all over the place, with one successful candidate upsetting supporters of the incumbent rival and one unsuccessful candidate due to be imposed by headquarters despite suffering a stinging rejection at convention.

In Galway West, sitting deputy and party chairman Padraic “Padeen” MacCormack failed to get a nomination, while arch rival Sen Fidelma Healy Eames powered her way onto the ticket. But we hear Padeen’s people are not impressed at how the senator allegedly engineered her victory. According to the MacCormack camp, Fidelma pulled a fast one by stacking the convention with voters from “paper branches.” These are branches with large numbers of members but no apparent activity. “A good strong branch would have 20-25 members. When you see one with 70-80 members but no TD, senator or councillor, you’d get suspicious. It’s very easy to set up a branch and after two years the members listed are eligible to vote at the convention” explained one of Padraic’s supporters.

Some might say the formidable Fidelma Really Screams simply had more support. Others might say she prepared well and outmanoeuvred her opposition.

But her (vanquished) opponents within the party are adamant: “When Padraic walked into that convention he saw an awful lot of strangers and he’s attended every local meeting in last twenty years. He knew right away he was beaten.”

Hence his comment on Thursday while chairing a meeting of party staff to discuss election preparations. The audio-visual room in Leinster House was packed and the attendance included people from branches around the country along with parliamentary assistants and secretarial staff.

He said at the outset: “I want you to say your name and who you’re working for before you speak because this meeting reminds me of my convention: I don’t know who any of you are.” Accounts of the Galway West convention had clearly filtered down to the organisation because the place erupted.

Back at the convention, a party councillor spoke of “serious tension” between two unnamed candidates and brought the house down when he remarked: “If they were a couple and married they’d have to be divorced!” Padraic, by the way, has not yet indicated whether he will accept Enda Kenny’s invitation to join the ticket.

Yesterday, he said he would follow his leader’s advice and take his time in coming to a decision. “I’m getting a tremendous response from the party and great encouragement from the people, which is something I will have to consider.”

After his bruising convention experience, sounds to us like a miffed Padeen is gearing up for another tilt.

The man has plenty of balls. No, seriously. As our photograph shows, deputy MacCormack is a very accomplished juggler.

Fidelma will be ecstatic.

Ignoring the grassroots

Speaking of Enda tinkering with tickets, his strategists at headquarters are determined to have their way with favoured candidates, no matter what the troops might think at grassroots level.

At the selection convention for Galway East last weekend, Mount Street Golden Boy Ciaran Cannon — the man formerly known as the Last Leader of the Progressive Democrats — went before his constituency for ratification. Ciaran joined Fine Gael last March with great fanfare.

However, while the top brass may think Cannon is their man, the local organisation isn’t so impressed. Over 700 delegates attended the convention and when the votes were counted, Ciaran managed to get a measly 20 of them.

But he wasn’t around to hear the underwhelming news as he had already left the New Inn Community Centre.

Two candidates were selected: Paul Connaughton Jnr., son of outgoing deputy, Paul Connaughton, from the North of the constituency and Jimmy McClearn, Mayor of Galway, from the Southern end.

Did Ciaran join FG on the understanding he would be added to the ticket? It might explain why he wasn’t minded to stick around for the result.

He certainly appears to be on an election footing. He told the convention he has acquired a second premises at his base in Loughrea, this one on the Main Street.

He also has a premises in Gort and intends to add to his empire by opening up in Portumna, Ballinasloe and Athenry.

A candidate can never have enough plate glass windows to plaster with posters.

Should he fail to be elected, the word from Galway East is that Cannon is guaranteed “a Taoiseach’s nomination” to the Upper House.

Would that be Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who intends to abolish the Seanad?

Separated at birth?

Here’s one from the Separated at Birth files: Independent Senator Ronan Mullen was walking down Harcourt Street on his way from Leinster House last Thursday night when he passed a group of Christmas revelers having a smoke outside a well known hostelry.

One of them, he noticed, was staring at him as he went by.

Then Mullen overheard the man loudly whisper to the chap beside him: “Jaysus, your man Cowen has lost a fair few pounds!” Funnily enough, the late Gerry Ryan commented more than once on his radio show that Ronan and Brian look remarkably similar.

What do you think?

Questions and answers

This is what this column told you in October: “It is widely expected that Carlow based MJ Nolan will shortly announce his intention to step down.” Here’s what the long serving deputy told his local radio station in response: “I don’t know where it came from or what’s behind it” he declared on Sue Nunn’s popular KCLR morning show, “but I just want to say that Fianna Fail is holding its convention, hopefully before Christmas, and my name will be going forward to convention for selection.” Deputy Nolan informed his constituents he was surprised to read the piece, especially as our Irish Times colleague, Mary Minihan, had contacted all TDs the previous day to confirm they were contesting the election “and I did so.” MJ sensed dirty tricks. “I’m suggesting that somebody is being mischievous in this particular article...I should say, prior to the last General Election, this rumour also went out and I had to deny it. Obviously, it’s a plan or a plant by somebody.” As to the identity of this somebody, he suggested to radio listeners: “I don’t think you’d have to be a rocket scientist” to work it out.

Sue Nunn, to be sure, asked him to confirm there was “absolutely no doubt” that he would be contesting the next election.

“No question about it” stressed MJ.

He released a lengthy statement on Monday.

It began: “I am announcing today my decision not to contest the forthcoming General Election and to retire from politics....” And politicians wonder why people have such a cynical view of them?

Home, James

Noel Dempsey is another long-serving Fianna Failer who has decided to leave the sinking ship. Interviewed by Chris Donoghue on Newstalk’s Breakfast Show earlier this month, the Minister for Transport said firmly that he hadn’t made any decision about his future.

But speaking yesterday to RTE’s Sean O’Rourke, Noel said he made the decision “a long time ago” and if the politicial situation hadn’t been so urgent he would probably have retired eighteen months ago.

In recent years, the minister liked to remind people that he tipped Barack Obama as a future US President long before the bandwagon started to roll. Noel heard him speak at a Democratic convention in 2004 and marked him out as one to watch.

Being Minister for Transport has its perks, but it also landed Dempsey with a special job when he attended the Democratic Convention in Denver in 2008.

A mob of overexcited Irish parliamentarians attended the event, including Enda Kenny, Eamon Gilmore, Olwyn Enright and Mark Daly.

Hotel accommodation was at a premium and they found themselves billeted near the airport, miles away from the action.

The political tourists decided to hire a tank of a people carrier and they made Noel (Transport his speciality) their designated driver.

He did his duty with patience and diligence, ferrying his colleagues around the place for the duration.