TAOISEACH VOTES:TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen arrived at Mucklagh national school outside Tullamore in Co Offaly yesterday to cast his vote shortly after 2pm, accompanied by his wife Mary and eldest daughter Sinead, who was voting in an election for the first time.
Moments after Sinead cast her vote, Mr Cowen was asked if he felt it was a shame he wasn’t on the ticket. “That’s just the chance of circumstance. She has good candidates to vote for, I can assure you,” he said. Mr Cowen and his family took time to talk to staff and members of the public who were arriving at the polling station, including 91-year-old Nora McDonald and 96-year-old Mary McEvoy, who was brought by her son Fr John McEvoy.
Hundreds of people turned up to see Mr Cowen deliver an impassioned speech to the people of Clara in his last official public appearance as Taoiseach in his home town on Thursday night.
Admitting Enda Kenny would most likely be the next taoiseach, Mr Cowen said Fianna Fáil would “regroup” and provide strong opposition in the Dáil.
However, Mr Cowen said Fianna Fáil in opposition would put the interest of the country first. “If a new government does the right thing by the country, that Fianna Fáil in opposition will perhaps be a little more responsible than what was accorded me during my time, and I would say that because the country comes first.” He told the gathering that “people want to move on with their lives – they are not interested in economic history lessons”.
Mr Cowen said allegations of cosy relationships between Fianna Fáil and bankers were unfounded.
“We have an independent prosecution service in this country and they have been given a free hand and all the necessary resources to provide whatever assistance they require to the director of prosecutions or to the gardaí to pursue whatever offences must be pursued in the national interest, or not only in the national interest but in the interest of justice. There has never been, nor will there ever be, by me or anyone in this party; and you know there has been a lot of stuff thrown around about collusion between me and my party and developers. It’s all nonsense.
“I have always been proud of who we are and what we are. This organisation will come again. We will take the verdict of the people tomorrow and we will thank them. We will thank them for the privilege of allowing us to serve for the period they gave consent for us to serve. We will regroup and come back and provide and offer them an alternative on the basis of a peaceful constitutional democracy and republicanism to which we all subscribe.
“What we need now in this country is to encourage, to encourage those who are out there making jobs and making wealth. To encourage those young people who might feel confused or upset or hurt, to encourage them, to be with them, to stand with them and we see it in our sporting organisations, we see it in our cultural life, we see it in politics too. We need to encourage them that we will come through.”