THE SON of late Cabinet minister Seamus Brennan was last night selected to run for Fianna Fáil in the June 5th Dublin South byelection.
Shay Brennan was chosen by 52 votes to 40 – a tighter margin than had been expected – over his only challenger, Senator Maria Corrigan, at a selection convention in The Goat Inn chaired by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Brennan thanked the 80 delegates, saying that their decision was “first and foremost” a tribute to his late father “and an acknowledgment of the very significant contribution that he made to local and national politics”.
Mr Brennan faces a tough battle in the byelection, following Fine Gael’s successful wooing of RTÉ’s former economics editor, George Lee.
Labour is running Senator Alex White.
Speaking about the arrival of Mr Lee into the race, Mr Brennan said the participation “of a high-profile broadcaster gives the contest added interest”, though he said it was “a positive development that a hurler is willing to dismount from the ditch and enter the fray.
“ . . . Already, his public pronouncements demonstrate an unwillingness to commit himself to virtually any policy position and a sensitivity to criticism that may make his tenure in politics, however short, an uncomfortable experience,” he went on.
Speaking about the banking crisis, Mr Brennan, who was an employee of Anglo Irish Bank, said: “To varying degrees, countries across the globe have been indulging in the blame game since the onset of the collapse of the economic order.
“Governments, banks and various sectors of the business community have all, rightly, been pilloried for their role, whether by commission or omission, in getting us into this appalling economic mess.
“Ordinary people are understandably bewildered and are entitled to an unambiguous acknowledgment that mistakes have been made.
“But then, we must move on,” said Mr Brennan.
Speaking about his motivations for seeking to run for the Dáil and about his late father, Mr Brennan said: “I do not regard my family connection as, in any sense, giving me an automatic entitlement to represent the people of this constituency and, as many of you know, I was hesitant to go forward.”
Mr Brennan told delegates that, in time, he hoped to prove to them that he can carry his father’s mantle.
