Mary White's Republican Cred?
national |
miscellaneous |
news report 
Tuesday August 13, 2002 14:01
by Pat C
The following piece for the "Phoenix" deserves wider circulation. It was sent to me & I don't have a link for it. I'm not posting this in any sectarian spirit. I think however SF should justify their support for capitalist candidates. Is LIR unionised? What are Whites views on other issues? On what basis dis SF choose her above others?
The following piece for the "Phoenix" deserves wider circulation and discussion (assuming, of course, that the facts are true)
>"Mary White's Republican Cred
>
>Jealous Fianna Fáil aspirants who believe that mary White's successful Senate campaign was due to her clout as chairman of the the party's policy committee, would be a little wide of the mark.
>
>It was Sinn Féin support that tilted the balance in Mary's favour which is a little strange considering that the managing director of Lir
>Chocolates hardly fits into the socio-economic profile of a Sinn Féin supporter from Fenit or Tallaght. White had the unstinting support
>of her husband who traversed the country to lobby councillors in her support. And she also wooed councillors with a freight load of Lir
>chocolates, sending a each councillor a sample of her wares - one councillor told Goldhawk that he received no less than three food
>parcels from the eager Seanad candidate. But Sinn Féin's 23 votes, many of which went to her either in first preferences or transfers, is
what clinched it for this unlikely Republican ally.
>
>The explanation for this cross party example of the Pan Nationalist front is that Mary White and Padraic, the former Industrial Development Authority head, have involved themselves in the Peace Process for years. Mary is prominent in the Fianna Fáil women's committee and she has organised visits of concerned, middle class
ladies to darkest Ardoyne and such down the years. Padraic, meanwhile, has busied himself networking with captains of industry
>in the North, extolling the virtues of cross border co-operation, and
>so on.
>
>But now that Mary is in the Senate, let's hope that she will rememberto file her accounts for Lir Chocolates. Failure to do so a few years
>ago led to the company being struck off (see the Phoenix
>1/12/2000)."
>
>- The Phoenix, August 2 2002
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4The facts are not true. Sinn Féin publically endorsed Kathryn Synnot for the Seanad election. This was reported in the Irish Times, Irish independent and I think on TV3. Sinn Féin councillors were instructed to vote for Kathryn Synnot, the disability rights campaigner. There was no discussion about endorsing Mary White at any stage.
Were the councillors instucted on how to cast further preferences?
Who did they vote for on other panels?
These are legitimate questions.
If you looked at the results of the Seanad Elections you will see that for all panels there were 2 spolied votes.
And you may have also noticed that the Socialist Party has 2 votes in Seanad elections (Cllr Clare Daly & Cllr Joe Higgins TD), a coincidence?
>Were the councillors instucted on how to cast >further preferences?
No.
>Who did they vote for on other panels?
No idea.
>These are legitimate questions.
Perhaps. Sinn Féin policy is that the Seanad should be abolished. In the past we have never instructued councillors how to vote. On this occasion they were instructed to vote for Synnot and those were the only instructions they were given. They were certainly not advised to vote for Mary White.
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