RTÉ’S FORMER economics editor, George Lee, who was last night formally selected as Fine Gael’s candidate in the Dublin South constituency, said that the Government’s handling of the economic crisis had put the fundamental freedom associated with democracy under threat.
Mr Lee was the only person nominated for selection at the Fine Gael convention in the Stillorgan Park Hotel.
After being formally nominated as the candidate for the byelection, caused by the death of Fianna Fáil TD Seamus Brennan, Mr Lee told the estimated 200 delegates that hundreds of thousands of people would be “trapped” as a result of “catastrophic” Government policies.
“You ask me what is the one thing I believe in mostly. For me it is freedom, it is freedom to go and to participate and have a range of views and to do things and explore things and live. The reality is that, as far I am concerned, the freedom of everybody in this country is being threatened.
“There are 388,000 people on the dole and I don’t believe any of them is free. The truth is they are trapped. Another 300,000 are in danger of being trapped.
“We have been led into a situation where people are trapped by debt, by unemployment and by fear of the future because there is no leadership. There is no direction and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Mr Lee was nominated by Councillor Jim O’Leary, also based in Dublin South, who withdrew his nomination before the meeting. Party leader Enda Kenny was present as were both Fianna Fáil TDs from the Dublin South constituency, Olivia Mitchell and Alan Shatter.
Mr Lee said he had not sought any deal from Fine Gael and said he would take a significant drop in salary if elected a TD: “I have no security. I have no promise from Enda Kenny. I have no money in the bank. The only money I had I put into a pension fund which has gone down by 40 per cent.” Later, he added: “I have spent 17 years in RTÉ driven by public service. I am willing to spend another 17 years in somewhere else other than RTÉ driven by public service.”