Surprise in Oldcastle as FF rejects veteran former TD Michael Lynch

Oldcastle Fianna Fáil members delivered a shock result last week, when they narrowly chose businessman Oliver Fox over the sitting councillor, Michael Lynch, when they nominated their candidate for next year"s local elections. The nomination of Mr Fox now goes forward to Mount Street party headquarters but suggestions locally indicated that the 74-year-old former TD and senator was still likely to secure a party nomination for the Kells electoral area in next June"s local elections. The Oldcastle cumann vote had been expected to be close as challenger Mr Fox had been making his case for some time. However, the vote means Fianna Fáil now confront a particular headache since the Kells electoral area, which includes Oldcastle, will have one fewer seat on the county council next year, following the decision of the Department of Environment & Local Government boundary review committee, which re-assigned seats from the Kells and Trim electoral areas to Slane and Dunshaughlin electoral districts earlier this year. The Oldcastle cumann vote is understood to have been given Oliver Fox the victory by just a handful of votes. The electrical shop proprietor paid tribute to Cllr Lynch in his speech and recalled their past friendship and association with the party. Some of those at the meeting were taken aback by the limited notice and one even characterised the vote as a 'coup'. Lynch supporters believe the veteran public representative retains very strong support within the cumann and question whether a change in candidate, or the risk of having two party candidates running from the town, would provide FF"s best opportunity for retaining a third Kells area seat. The Lynch heritage of public representation can be traced back to the foundation of the State when Michael Lynch"s father, Philip, first represented Sinn Féin and later Fianna Fáil on Meath County Council. Cllr Lynch was first elected to the council in 1967 and ran unsuccessfully in the general election in 1973, when Oldcastle was briefly transferred into the Cavan-Monaghan constituency. He stood for the Dail without success in Meath in the 1977 and 1981 general elections before finally being returned to Leinster House in February 1982. However, he lost his seat in the general election of November 1982 but was elected to the Senate where he served until his re-election to Dail Eireann on the 10th count in the 1987 general election. Cllr Lynch lost his seat on the 11th count in the 1989 general election, by just 167 votes, to Trim TD Noel Dempsey. One of the current six sitting Kells area councillors has to lose their seat in next year"s poll - either Michael Lynch, Liz McCormack and Bryan Reilly (all Fianna Fáil), John Farrelly and Eugene Cassidy (Fine Gael) or Michael Gallagher (Sinn Féin). The indications from the 2004 results may not be very helpful, notwithstanding the nomination of former candidate Dominic Moran by Nobber Fianna Fáil Cumann last week. Mr Moran at that time polled 1,133 first preference votes, which proved crucial in their distribution after his elimination, but both councillors Gallagher and Cassidy headed the poll on their debut and both made the quota, as did councillors Reilly and Farrelly, before councillors Lynch and McCormack were elected just under the quota of 1,880. That figure is likely to shoot up to at least 2,300 next year, given the growing population of the district coupled with there being one less seat available. The arithmetic for Fianna Fáil means it had 2.8 quotas last time and secured three seats. To hold onto these, the strongest game plan would appear to be to re-nominate the existing councillors, separated widely by geography in the county"s largest district electoral division. The Fine Gael councillors know the challenge they face and may be joined by former Oldcastle councillor Gerry Gibney in next year"s contest. Labour has already nominated Kells Town Council cathaoirleach Brian Collins, who ran in the Meath West general election last year. However, he will have to substantially surpass colleague Tommy Grimes"s 1,089 first preference votes to be realistically in with any challenge for the final Kells area county council seat. Cllr Gallagher"s work in expanding his base beyond his Drumconrath hinterland may well ensure his re-election but no-one is making any predictions on any single candidate at this stage. Cllr McCormack, who is Meath"s first female county council chairperson this year, will clearly benefit from her profile right up to next June"s election, even though she has lost some of her hinterland to the Trim electoral division. However, Eyes remain glued to the Oldcastle Fianna Fáil impasse, where Cllr Lynch"s renewed vigour emphasises his determination to run again.