*Senator Martin Conway (FG) on the streets of Ennis. Photograph: John Mangan
SENATOR MARTIN Conway (FG) has confirmed that he is to withdraw from Fine Gael’s selection convention this Friday evening.
Fine Gael is to hold its selection convention to decide its General Election ticket in Clare this Friday in Treacy’s West County Hotel but one of the two nominees has now pulled out of the race.
At the close of nominations last Monday evening, only Senator Conway and Leonora Carey (FG) were nominated, it came after Joe Carey (FG) announced his retirement from politics, he had been on sick leave since last March.
Ennistymon native Conway confirmed to The Clare Echo that he had decided not to contest the selection convention and that he favoured the party opting for a one candidate strategy. “I have engaged extensively with Fine Gael officials and members over the last couple of weeks, I believe strongly that Fine Gael need to have a one candidate strategy and we’re very fortunate to have a member of the Carey family go forward to seek a nomination”.
He said, “I’m quite happy to stand back in the best interests of Fine Gael retaining its seat in Clare and doing what I can to support Leonora to win that seat”.
Nationally he pointed out that forty percent of Fine Gael’s candidates must be women and that he believed Leonora had a strong chance of retaining the party’s seat in Clare. In 2012, the Oireachtas adopted a law obliging political parties to select at least 30% women candidates and 30% men candidates to contest general elections. The threshold rises to 40% from 2023 onwards. If the quota is not met, political parties will lose 50% of the State funding they receive on an annual basis to run their operations.
Conway stated, “There is an issue with the gender quota and the amount of candidates we have to select, the Carey name has been in politics for forty years, Leonora is a strong candidate with plenty of political experience”. He added, “Everyone in Fine Gael is happy at the minute that we have a strong candidate to get behind”.
His decision is dependent on the General Election taking place in October and November with Senator pointing out that he will review his decision if an election is not held by the New Year. “I have a nomination for the Seanad and whatever happens with the General Election, I will be doing everything I can to keep my seat in the Seanad”.
For the 2020 General Election, Fine Gael ran three candidates in Clare, then Junior Minister, Pat Breen (FG) lost his seat, Joe Carey was the last TD elected and didn’t surpass the quota while Conway was eliminated on the sixth count after polling 2,285 first preference votes.
Party members will travel to Treacy’s West County Hotel on Friday evening but there will now be no vote but instead it will be an opportunity for them to hear for the first time from Leonora Carey who will become their General Election candidate. She has served as Chair of Fine Gael’s National Executive Council and currently works as an occupational therapist manager with UL Hospitals Group.
