KENNY CANVASS:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny swept through Leitrim and Roscommon yesterday, declaring that he had two-thirds of the country covered, 70,000 hands shaken and the Government on the run.
It has emerged that during his trip to Fianna Fáil European candidate Paschal Mooney’s hometown of Drumshanbo, the Fine Gael leader picked up a cheque for €3,000, second prize in a recent draw for the local Allen Gaels GAA club.
Mr Kenny had been tapped for €50 by Fine Gael councillor Enda McGloin, but on the big night it was Mr Mooney and local parish priest Fr Peter Burke who were asked to pick out the winning names.
There are those in Leitrim who believe Mr Mooney was just glad Pat “the Cope” Gallagher had not won the loot, but he was probably glad to have been in Clare yesterday when the Fine Gael motorcade rolled in, accepted the cheque and then graciously handed it back.
In Carrick-on-Shannon, Mr Kenny and his European candidate Joe O’Reilly were framed by the Tesco “Change for Good” banners as they bantered with shoppers and swept through the store, shaking hands and tut-tutting about everything from vegetables to the state of the nation.
“Look at this – Belgian leeks, Spanish cabbage,” said Mr Kenny to a clearly bewildered Oriental-looking gentleman who had dropped in for a few provisions on his way home.
Mr Kenny admitted the polls did not augur well for the party’s chances of taking a second seat in the northwest, but said they were confident of “getting Joe up from where he is”.
He stressed that until the final vote was cast he would not be taking anything for granted.
He said he would be pleased if Fine Gael held on to its five European seats and won around 300 local council seats.