Woman from TV audience 'has no party affiliation'

RACE FOR THE ÁRAS:THE BUSINESSWOMAN who questioned Independent candidate Seán Gallagher about aspects of his career on the Frontlineprogramme on RTÉ One on Monday night says she has no political affiliations.

Glenna Lynch from Stillorgan, Dublin, who runs the interior design shop Mimosa Interiors, rejected speculation from Mr Gallagher yesterday that she was attached to a political party.

"I feel it's like we have somebody who is running for the presidency and we can't ask him questions and it's an attack on him if we do. Questions are questions and it's reasonable to ask them," Ms Lynch told The Irish Times.

She phoned the Today with Pat Kennyprogramme on RTÉ Radio One after Mr Gallagher, who was being interviewed, referred to her questioning the previous night.

“Who was the businesswoman and what’s her background and where does she come from and what party is she attached to? I’m tired of people being wheeled out with agendas,” Mr Gallagher said.

“You put the person here in front of me let them tell you and me and the nation their background . . . you wheel a person out on a programme and they throw allegations at me without them defining who they are; what their political allegiance is and I find that difficult.”

Ms Lynch said last night she had no political affiliations. She said she did not come from a political family and would have voted for Fianna Fáil until the second last general election, when she “switched” her allegiance.

“I’m really interested but we’re not political, although I probably am political in the sense that I do care.” Ms Lynch said she had been driving yesterday morning when she heard Mr Gallagher make the comments about her on the radio.

“I felt I just had to ring up . . . he just couldn’t get away with that,” she added. “I felt on that programme this morning he was trying to say it was a Sinn Féin conspiracy against him. I just thought: that’s not fair.”

Speaking on the programme yesterday after Ms Lynch had appeared on air, Mr Gallagher said it was regrettable that the questions had come up: they took up on-air time that he believed he should be using to outline “the vision of addressing issues”.

He said: “I have called on my campaign team around the country . . . to stay focused on a positive message about the future. My view will not be diverted by tactics such as this.”

Kenny said the programme had not sought out Ms Lynch; she had called in.