*Rita McInerney, Shane Talty and Cathal Crowe. Photo by Joe Buckley
ATTEMPTS to secure a Seanad nomination are to be made by Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) after she lost out in her bid to become Fianna Fáil’s first TD from West Clare in over two decades.
A dip of 663 votes from the 2020 General Election led to Rita’s elimination on the twefth count but once again she was the eighth candidate left standing as the county elected its four new TDs.
Off the back of a successful local election in June where she topped the poll in a competitive Kilrush LEA, it had been expected that Rita would received a higher share of the 5.7 percent of the vote she amassed.
She said of her performance, “Considering there was there was so many candidates in the in the field, it’s probably in around the same. It was a difficult, campaign, it was a very short lead in time compared to other campaigns but, I enjoyed it, I had a great team, and, they put their heart and soul into it, and I’m very fortunate to have that support. I’m very passionate about the West and North in the county and making sure that we have representation, and I’ll continue to do that and build my profile as Cathaoirleach of the West Clare Municipal District for this year and raise the issues and take the concerns of people, to the fore. It was a good campaign, but every campaign is different”.
6002 votes from West Clare went to candidates outside of the area (51%). According to the Doonbeg woman, the electorate opted to go with experience. “They probably just went with more experienced candidates, to be honest so look, that that’s fair enough, that’s the people’s decision. There’s a lot of issues, though, and there’s a lot of deprivation in West Clare that needs to in North Clare that needs to be addressed”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Rita noted that as a result, “the nearest representative is in Shannon, that’s the reality of it and, look, I mean, as I said, they you know, people probably voted for people who had been had more experience than I do, years more experience than I do, and that’s the reality of it. I’ll keep building and keep building the team and looking at other opportunities. I come from an entrepreneurship background, and I really think we need to we need to infuse that in our young people and our communities that to keep trying and to keep and to never give up, and, you know, to follow your dreams and follow your motivations. Otherwise, communities die, you know, and people lose hope. Follow your dreams is the message from this for me and to keep trying and, you know nothing is a failure if you learn from it, and I’ve certainly learned hugely from it. I take full responsibility for my campaign, and I’m very committed to that. I’ll work within the party, within my party colleagues to push for what we need in West and North Care because it’s not about me. It’s about the communities that that I represent, and I’m doing this this for them, I just have to keep plugging that message that there is hope because I feel a lot of people have lost hope but there’s huge potential in West and North Clare and we need to keep pushing that”.
Cllr McInerney pledged to continue to highlight issues in the area. “I have huge concerns about our hospital service and our health service and where they’re located in the county. I think that, you know, we need to be fighting for that A and E in Ennis and if it’s to be a greenfield site site, it has to be the western half there or the western northern half of the county because it can’t be, anywhere else. It can’t be to the south or to the east, which would be an issue. In relation to Moneypoint and the marine planning, there’s a push nationally that the next plan will be the south of the country and won’t be in the West Coast and unless there’s political will and political clout to push that, I don’t accept that it’s because the technology is a bit more advanced in the floating offshore because the West Coast of Clare certainly needs it more than Cork does, there’s a lot of industries, a lot of development down there and if we’re serious about keeping West and North Clare alive, we have to work together to get those types of projects over the line. Even the facilities in terms of the sports facilities that were denied funding recently and also our road infrastructure, the N68, the N85, and indeed the N67, which just forms the triangle for West and North Clare. I’ll be working with my party colleagues and pushing for those projects to get over the line, from a Council perspective so that’s my job for the next five years”.
On the next ‘dream’ for Rita, the shop owner outlined, “I’m looking at all my options. There’s a lot of options out there, for the next stall and for the next Government. I will certainly keep plugging away, and whatever is best whatever I feel is the best for my community and for the western north county in terms of representation, I will do that, and I’ll keep fighting”.
Among those options is vying to become a Senator, she confirmed. “I’ll certainly put my hat in the ring and I’ll be I’ll be definitely, putting the feelers out for that and it’ll be a hard battle because there’s a lot of people around the country that high profile TDs in Fianna Fáil that have lost their seat but, look, there’s a job of work to be done there in terms of seeking a Seanad seat because we have a lot of Fianna Fáil councillors around the country as well so I have to feed into that and use as many contacts as I can. I’m not going to give up because I feel I’m so passionate about the West and North of the county needing representation, if we don’t have a Seanad person then that’s another key part of it. It will depend on how things lie in terms of the next Government, who forms the next government, and what parties are there”.
