FF may yield to Greens on date for three byelections

FIANNA FÁIL is likely to concede to pressure from the Green Party to name a date early next year for all three outstanding byelections, according to a senior Fianna Fáil source.

The Greens want Government to proceed with the referendum on children’s rights and the Dublin mayoral election at the same time as holding polls to fill Dáil vacancies in Donegal South West, Dublin South and Waterford.

The source said Fianna Fáil was likely to concede to pressure from the Greens to hold three byelections, the referendum and the mayoral election in March or April, adding: “This appears to be another concession to the Greens, who are dictating the agenda so they stay in Government.”

A prominent Fianna Fáil backbencher called on Government yesterday to hold the byelections.

Seán Power of Kildare South, a former minister of state who has criticised the administration in recent times, said it was “unfortunate” the Donegal South West byelection had become subject to a court challenge.

The High Court will next month hear a judicial review application by Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty, challenging the Government to move the writ. Mr Power said: “There’s a tradition in this country of holding byelections a reasonable period after a vacancy arises. We can’t continue to deny people what is their democratic right of representation in Dáil Éireann.

“It’s most unfortunate that we have allowed the situation to go to court, allowing the court to adjudicate, rather than the Government continuing the tradition.”

Mr Power also predicted the Government, which has an increasingly delicate majority in the Dáil, would not survive to complete its full term in 2012. “I think it’s most unlikely to run that long.”

There is a strong chance that holding the electoral contests together could trigger a general election as Government candidates are considered extremely unlikely to win.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Éamon Ryan said yesterday a decision should be taken on the matter fairly quickly. He said it would be better if people could vote in the various polls on one occasion rather than on different days. “My instinct is that it makes sense not to call people out two or three different times, to do it at the one time,” he added.

The vacancy in Donegal South West, which is Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s constituency, was created by the election of Pat “the Cope” Gallagher to the European Parliament in June last year. Former Fine Gael Dublin South TD George Lee resigned in February this year and former Fianna Fáil minister Martin Cullen stepped down as a TD for Waterford in March for health reasons.

A Government source yesterday moved to play down elements of a Sunday newspaper report suggesting the Government would indicate in court it intended to hold the Donegal by-election by a certain date.

“The Dáil has already voted on the by-election issue and Government is now focused on the court case as brought forward by a member of the Opposition,” a Government spokeswoman said. A Fianna Fáil press officer said the party had no comment on the issue.

Green chairman Senator Dan Boyle said: “If held in spring, I can’t see any reason for staggering the byelections. It would also be difficult to hold an election for a Dublin mayor without the Dublin South byelection at the same time.”

Mr Boyle said legislation for the holding of a referendum on children’s rights and the election of a mayor of Dublin had yet to be introduced.

The final report of an Oireachtas committee examining possible electoral reform measures, released in July, said byelections should be held within six months of the death or resignation of a TD.

Private members Bills were introduced earlier this year by Fine Gael and Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan proposing that byelections be held within six months of vacancies occurring.