Socialist candidate launches campaign

Socialist Party candidate in the Dublin West byelection Ms Ruth Coppinger has called on the electorate not to vote for “another ‘Yes’ man or woman when there are already 113 in the Dail” in Fine Gael and Labour.

A member of the United Left Alliance, she was speaking today as she launched her campaign for the byelection on October 27th, caused by the death of former Fianna Fáil minister for finance Brian Lenihan Jnr

Ms Coppinger (44) said the party had a chance of winning the seat because of the exceptional circumstances. “A number of years ago, who would have thought there would be no Fianna Fáil TD in the Dublin area.”

Fine Gael and Labour would clearly be favourites, she said and the timing of the election before the Budget would help them.

The Government was still new and people might want to give them a chance, but there would still be a lot of disappointment particularly in Labour, that it “ has taken on the austerity measures introduced by Fianna Fáil, which have failed”.

She said she was asking voters to consider what was the point in voting for another Government backbencher when they already had 113 TDs, rather than voting for a TD who would actively oppose the “disastrous austerity measures”.

Ms Coppinger said one of the major issues in Dublin West, was the downgrading of services at Blanchardstown hospital and the ULA is also campaigning against the introduction of water and household charges.

A member of Fingal county council for eight years in the Mulhuddart ward, she has been a political activist for the past 26 years, starting out with Labour Youth, from which she was expelled with Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins and others.

Ms Coppinger, a secondary school English and history teacher in Tallaght, Co Dublin has taken leave of absence from her job to work as parliamentary assistant to Mr Higgins.

Cllr Coppinger said that if elected she would draw a salary of the industrial wage of €39,700.

However the party would take the remainder of the €92,672 salary and use it for party campaigns.

Other candidates in the Dublin West byelection include Fianna Fáil Cllr David McGuinness; Labour Cllr Patrick Nulty; Paul Donnelly of Sinn Féin; and Roderic O’Gorman of the Green Party.