A LARGE turnout of delegates is expected this afternoon to pick the Labour Party’s candidate for the South constituency in next year’s European Parliament elections.
The party said yesterday that it expects an attendance in Cork of some 500 delegates from 1,300 who are eligible to vote.
However, the candidates – Tipperary Senator Alan Kelly and Tralee-based Arthur Spring say they expect more, perhaps as many as 800.
A series of disputes in the past week and the keen rivalry that has emerged between two candidates has led to heightened interest in what is usually a low-key event.
On the eve of the convention at the Silver Springs hotel in Cork, Senator Kelly (33) and Mr Spring (31) said they were confident of securing the nomination for the three-seat constituency. The serving MEPs are: Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley, Fine Gael’s Colm Burke (who replaced Simon Coveney upon his return to the Dáil) and Independent Kathy Sinnott.
The Labour candidates criticised shortcomings in the process. Senator Kelly again expressed his disagreement with a decision by an appeal committee to allow late registration for 280 members, 238 of whom come from Mr Spring’s stronghold of Kerry.
Mr Spring, a nephew of former party leader Dick Spring, expressed his disappointment that a postal ballot had not been allowed.
The convention, to be chaired by Róisín Shortall TD, will open with a speech by party leader Eamon Gilmore. The two candidates will then speak for 15 minutes each. A decision is expected at about 4.30pm.
In the run-up, Mr Kelly has portrayed the decision by the appeals committee as changing the goalposts in the middle of the match.
“It affects the proportionality. The volume of people, 238 out of 280, coming in from Kerry is of concern to me,” he said.
Mr Spring said that the issue of the late registration of delegates had been overblown: “This convention should have been in the format of a postal vote, thus engaging everybody with a capacity to vote,” he said.
Mr Kelly expressed confidence of winning the nomination: “Why would I bother running it as a profile-building exercise, with all the risk of loss ?” he asked.
Mr Spring also said he was “reasonably confident” of securing the nomination.