THE Labour Party in Clare is actively searching for a Dail candidate to contest the general election in the constituency amid a growing expectation that the sitting TD, Dr Moosajee Bhamjee, will not seek re-election.
Following months of speculation about his electoral intentions, Dr Bhamjee told The Irish Times yesterday that "in the end, I am more of a doctor than a politician."
However, he does not intend to confirm or publicly declare his decision until the weekend. The time had come to make a decision one way or the other "in order to get the pressure off me", he added.
"At the moment, everything is in the balance. I will speak to Dick Spring," Dr Bhamjee said.
The Labour leadership would like him to contest the four-seat constituency where the party took a seat for the first time in 30 years in the 1992 general election. Many of his patients are also pressing him to remain in politics, he said.
Co Clare had benefited significantly from his tenure as a TD but some of the controversial issues which helped him secure a seat have been resolved, he added.
Mr Howlin, while he was Minister for Health, had helped to keep Ennis General Hospital open - "a major issue" in the last election. Fighting the construction of an interpretative centre at Mullaghmore also won him electoral support but this was no longer a "burning issue" in the constituency, he said.
Dr Bhamjee said that among the other advances, he had also helped bring to Claret was a free legal aid office to Ennis.
"Now I have to decide whether I am a politician. The boys in Dublin can double-job and seem to be able to get away with it."
Labour, which intends to field a candidate in every constituency, will have difficulty finding a high profile replacement candidate for Dr Bhamjee. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats all claim they can take the seat he now holds.
Fianna Fail has two TDs in Clare - Ms Sile de Valera and Mr Tony Killeen. The Minister of State for the West, Mr Donal Carey, is Fine Gael's TD in the constituency.
Senator Brendan Daly will attempt to take a third seat for Fianna Fail but Fine Gael sources last night insisted that Senator Madeleine Taylor-Quinn can secure a second seat for the party.
Ms Mary Mannion is to contest the seat for the Progressive Democrats.