1994 European Elections, Fianna Fail and Labour are in coalition and Richard Bruton asks voters to vote no 1 Jim Mitchell, No 2 Mary Banotti.
Vote management for General elections in Dublin can be difficult to manage, however the Liffey provides a perfect boundary in European Elections.
Mary Banotti was elected, Jim Mitchell missed out.
The ‘Recent Events’ refered to, could have been anything from the Tax Amnesty to the Beef Tribunal.
On this we have ‘litir um thoghcán’ usually its spelt ‘litir um thoghchán’.
Having been Lord Mayor of Dublin Tomas MacGiolla writes to the ‘Dear Citizens’ of Dublin looking for a vote.
He Writes…
‘At a time when there is literally enough wealth being created to serve the needs of everyone we have 32% unemployed …’
Chris O’Malley was Co-opted to replace Richie Ryan in the European Parliament in 1986.He then lost his seat here in 1989. The Reference to being an Expert on 1992 is to down with the Single European Act where Europe was to be a Single Market by 1992. His fluency in French and German may have been a dig at some of the Mark Killilea stories that were about at the time.
Chris O’Malley later surfaced as a Labour Councillor on Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council having been co-opted to replace Eamon Gilmore.
He lost his seat the following year in the 2004 local elections.
Mary Banotti, Grand Niece of Michael Collins, MEP for four terms and the Fine Gael candidate in the 1999 Presidential election.
Richie Ryan, elected to the Dail in 1959, probably most famous for his time as Minister for Finance in the 1973 to 1977 Fine Gael/Labour coalition. He was satirised as ‘Richie Ruin’ by ‘Halls Pictorial Weekly’. He served in the European Parliament from 1973 until 1986 when he was appointed to the European Court of Auditors. He was replaced as MEP by Chris O’Malley.
Note how Fine Gael are pushing the fact that they are part of the Christian Democrats in the European Parliament.
A Letter from Bobby Molloy to voters from the 1989 European election campaign. He polled well but failed to win a seat finishing 5th.
Molloy First elected to the Dail in 1965, was one of the first Fianna Fail Politicians to join the newly formed Progessive Democrats in 1986. He retired from politics prior to the 2002 General Election in a controversy over representations made in a rape case.
Click on Image to enlarge
1994 Dublin European Elections and a mini sensation is caused by the addition of RTE Journalist Orla Guerin to the Labour Party Ticket.
The addition, supposedly at Dick Springs request, caused friction within the party and between the candidates.
The sitting MEP Bernie Malone, who had been co-opted to replace Barry Desmond, had been selected at the Selection convention was none too pleased. It was one of the most memorable campaigns for rivalry between candidates…. All sorts of rumours went around at the time.
In the end Malone held on to her seat and it was Guerin, despite polling well, who lost out.
Orla Guerin joined the BBC in 1995 and has worked there since.
Eileen Lemass- Daughter in law of Sean Lemass and Sister in law of Charlie Haughey. Here she mentions the Sean Lemass connection, but not the Haughey one.
The Double jobbing reference is a bit rich considering that she had a spell from 1984 to 1987 double jobbing as both an MEP and TD.
I presume the double jobbing jibe was against Prionsias de Rossa and Mary Harney who both stood for the Dail the same day.
Eileen Lemass failed to retain her seat .
In 1989 both the General and European Elections were held on the same day.
Both Lalor and Fitzsimons were elected here as Fianna Fail held its 2 seats, despite a drop in the Fianna Fail vote since the 1984 Euro Elections.
Laoisman Paddy Lalor, previously a TD for Laois-Offaly since 1961 had been elected to the European Parliament in 1979. Lalor, in his time, had served as a Minister for Posts & Telegraphs and Industry and Commerce.This 1989 election was to be his last. Lalor was a noted hurler and was part of the 1949 Laois team that won the Bob O’Keeffe Cup (Leinster title).
Meathman Jim Fitzsimons, who had briefly been a Minister of State in 1982, had been elected to the Dail in 1977. He stood in four European Elections from 1984 to 1999.
Meath Councillor Jack Fitzsimons running on amongst other things an anti hunting and Hare Coursing ticket. He got 6,752 votes.
1994 Euro Elections Munster constituency. A split in the PDs led to Pat Cox standing as an Independent and Des O’Malley standing for the PDs . Cox despite being behind O’Malley on the first count took the last seat.
It was O’Malleys first election not being the party leader.
Union official (and since President of SIPTU) Geraghty stood for the Workers Party in the 1984 Euro elections getting 19,590 votes, almost 7%.
There were high hopes that both Michael Enright and Catherine Murphy could put down a marker for future Dail progress. A General election was held on the same day and it was hoped that their candidacy in the Euro Elections would give them a boost.
Although the Workers Party vote increased from 1984s Euro Election, both candidates lost their deposits with a combined 4.38% of the vote.
In the General election Enrights vote actually fell, whilst Murphys 1,520 vote was decent enough in the circumstances (An ‘Army Wives’ candidate, Carol Tiernan also stood in Kildare polling 2,690 votes, some of which would have gone to Murphy).
The thorny issue of party policy towards Farmers must have also had an impact on the vote. “Reorganisation of Agricultural production…”
wasn’t the policy to have rural voters flocking to the party. Also we had another new party ‘Logo’.
The 2004 European Elections and Fianna Fail have high hopes that Berties boy Royston Brady may help win a second seat for the party.
A popular Lord Mayor Brady was seen as having a great chance and opinion polls early in the campaign had him winning a seat……..
…then came a series of gaffes in interviews.. among them, being unable on a number of occasions to name the new countries joining the EU and also a claim that his fathers Taxi was stolen and used as a getaway car by the loyalists who bombed Dublin in 1974.
From hogging the limelight he suddenly went off the airwaves with a number of weeks left in the campaign. … This poster was seen around Dublin at the time.
The 1989 Euro elections, a breakthrough as Proinsias DeRossa wins the seat. The style and content of this leaflet was refered to in ‘The Lost Revolution’. The centrepiece where he has the three people was novel at the time.
“Sean is from the Southside ..Dolores is from the Northside..” I wonder where they are now?
Also the leaflet is addressed to my family rather than to each of the then 5 voters in the house. Similar for the Workers Party General election Candidate, probably illustrates how tight funds were at the time.
There are many gimmicks to get a voter to hold on to your leaflet, it may list telephone numbers of local services, be a fridge magnet calendar , a sporting fixtures guide, a match programme….. and then there’s the quiz!
A nice picture of yourself on the front and A Quiz where you also sneak yourself in as two of the answers on the back!
Sean Doherty and Mark Killilea from the 1989 Euro Elections. Killilea was elected. Doherty will always be associated with the phone tapping scandal and later on that interview on Nighthawks’ that led in part to Haugheys downfall…. and yes I did pick the second leaflet off the ground.
The Fianna Fail manifestos for each Constituency in the 1994 European Elections. Amongst the Candidates, Pat the Cope Gallagher, Mark Killilea, Gerry Collins, Brian Crowley and Olive Braiden.
Irish Election Literature 
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