Dempsey exit throws Meath race wide open

Political parties in Meath West are reviewing their election strategies following the surprise announcement last week by the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, that he will not seek re-election to Dail Eireann in the 2011 general election. The long-serving Meath West TD and senior cabinet minister announced on Friday morning last that he was not running for election when the poll is called next year. Fianna Fail's national constituencies committee will have to meet to consider re-opening the nomination process, as Mr Dempsey and fellow sitting TD Johnny Brady were the only two who had been nominated by the deadline, extended to last week as a result of the bad weather conditions. The decision by Mr Dempsey to depart the Meath political scene leaves a huge gap in the south Meath area and his Trim base. Fine Gael, which held its selection convention on Monday of last week - choosing sitting TD Damien English and Cllr Catherine Yore over Trim councillor Ray Butler - may now look at adding the latter to the party ticket. On Thursday night, Labour chose Cllr Jenny McHugh, who lives in Trim and teaches in Johnstown, Navan, as its candidate. Fianna Fail's chief whip on Meath County Council, Cllr Shane Cassells, is emerging as one of those likely to seek the party nomination to run for election. He ran in the 2005 Meath by-election and increased his vote in last year's Meath County Council elections. Other FF public representatives likely to be considered include Navan councillor Padraig Fitzsimons and Trim town councillor, Ronan McKenna, Mr Dempsey's son-in-law. It is understood that Trim area councillor, Jimmy Fegan, who has been constituency adviser to Noel Dempsey, has declined an approach by Fianna Fail headquarters. On Friday morning, Mr Dempsey announced he would not be seeking a nomination to run in the next general election following 33 years as a public representative. He said: “I sincerely thank the people of Meath for their support over three decades. I also want to say a heartfelt thank you to my close and extended family and the many dedicated and committed members of Fianna Fail in Meath who canvassed for me in all of the elections over the years. “It has been an honour and a privilege to serve the people of Meath as a councillor and a TD and to serve my country as a minister.†In an interview with the Meath Chronicle this week, Mr Dempsey, who will be 58 next month, admitted that, if the present opinion polls are to be replicated on polling day, then Fianna Fail is in for a hammering. However, he insisted this was not a factor in his decision to retire from the Dail, as he had long ago decided to leave national politics around his 55th birthday, but had stayed on to help steer a way out of the current economic crisis. In the last election of 2007, he was elected on the first count with over 29 per cent of the vote, some 12,007 votes, his surplus bringing Johnny Brady across the line on the second count. With the political and economic climate as it is currently, two Fianna Fail candidates will find it difficult to be elected in Meath West, and the Opposition parties will be eyeing up the possibilites this will present. Last week, Cllr McHugh was ratified as the Labour candidate in a contest with Ballivor's Cllr Tracey McElhinney. Cllr McHugh said she has a proven record at vote-getting and it is her intention to work hard to win a seat for the Labour Party in Meath West. Running for Sinn Fein is Navan Town Councillor Peader Toibin, who has been to the forefront in the Save Navan Hospital campaign, and who will also be confident of a strong showing.