Local MEP selected to contest election

Drumconrath-domiciled Mairead McGuinness, MEP, was formally nominated as a European election candidate for Fine Gael in the Ireland East constituency at a special convention held at the Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Co Kildare. She was proposed by former Fine Gael leader, Alan Dukes, and seconded by Olwyn Enright TD. Senator John Paul Phelan of Kilkenny was also nominated to contest the Ireland East constituency. Outgoing MEP, Avril Doyle, had indicated that she would not be seeking re-election. Ms McGuinness told the convention that she had every confidence that Fine Gael could repeat its 2004 European election success by winning two seats in the constituency. She said that, in the last five years, politics and politicians have come under close scrutiny. 'We need to rebuild respect for the profession of politics and those who practice it. If politics loses respect, it sadly losses effect and we will all be the worse off for that.' She said that one of the positive aspects of the current economic crisis was that it was focusing attention on the true nature of our relationship with Europe. 'If the current crisis forces us to reassess and analyse the relationship more carefully, then the forthcoming European elections on 5th June should be one of the most healthy and important in the history of our European membership,' she said. 'The importance of European solidarity in the current volatile world economy should not be underestimated,' she added, pointing to last week"s European Investment Bank"s package of €300 million for Irish small and medium-sized businesses, as a tangible manifestation of that solidarity. She said that while she has campaigned vigorously for less red tape for all enterprises so that business can flourish, nonetheless good, effective regulation was critical. 'I say to the farming community that it is in your best interests as farmers, food producers and business people to have the very best regulation in order to protect your business. We have bad regulation, we have weak regulation, we have ineffective implementation of regulation, we have duplication - but we cannot blame Brussels for all of it. Much of what people battle with in this country is home grown bureaucracy and it needs urgent reform in every sector of this economy,' she said.