PD campaign launch: The Tánaiste has said there will not be a formal transfer pact between the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil in the forthcoming by-elections, but hinted that informal agreements could be made in the two constituencies.
At a press conference formally to launch the party's by-election campaign, Ms Harney said yesterday that for the party to enter such a pact, even for a by-election, would require the approval of a meeting of the party's general council and that body was not meeting before the by-elections, she said.
However, informal arrangements could be made "on the ground", she went on, and she said she would "remind people that we are in Government with Fianna Fáil".
Introducing her party's candidates, Ms Harney noted that the two came from a social and community-work background.
The Meath candidate Ms Sirena Campbell is a social worker, while the Kildare North candidate Senator Kate Walsh is a former businesswoman and community worker.
"The Progressive Democrats are often seen as a party solely interested in the economy," she said, so she was glad to be able to put forward candidates from different backgrounds.
Ms Campbell, a residential care worker with young offenders at Trinity House, said she had seen the effects that a poor environment, lack of educational facilities and inadequate social infrastructure had on young people. She would be seeking such facilities for Meath so it did not become "a teenage time bomb".
She did not want to see the county being filled with "poorly constructed housing estates, and then 15 years later the social infrastructure comes along".
Ms Walsh said she was a community activist in north Kildare, whose population was growing rapidly. "I will be looking for better community facilities," she said.
Ms Harney said the constituencies had expanding populations and therefore many voters did not have traditional political allegiances. "The constituencies are wide open and it will come down to the candidates," she said. Both of the PD candidates "are rooted in the communities they serve. They are women of great integrity, trustworthiness and honesty," she said.
"The people of North Kildare and Meath can be assured a No 1 vote for Kate Walsh and Sirena Campbell is a vote for honesty, integrity and truth in politics."