Have been doing a bit of messing around with the wayback machine….
Here’s the websites of two Fianna Fail TDs from 1999
A Link to Tánaiste Mary Coughlans Website from 1999
And A Link to
Noel O’Flynns Website from 1999
Not all links work and things may be slow to load…
To be fair Mary Coughlans site wasn’t too bad.
From the 2004 Local Elections a leaflet for Independent Fianna Fail candidates for Letterkenny Town Council Dessie Larkin and Peter Patton. Dessie Larkin was elected but Peter Patton missed out.
Dessie Larkin is the son of former Independent Fianna Fail Senator James Larkin (1985 Leaflet here).
The aims and objectives of the party are fairly good. There’s little or no mention of the British presence in the North which was a mainstay of their early policies until the peace process.
From the 2007 General Election a leaflet for Fianna Fail candidate Cecilia Keaveney running in Donegal North East. With the Blaney Independent Fianna Fail organisation rejoining the mothership and Jim McDaid deciding to stand again, Fianna Fail went into the election with 3 sitting TDs fighting for 3 seats.
Despite polling 6,362 votes the Inishowen based Keaveney lost her seat to Fine Gael Senator Joe McHugh.
She is the daughter of former Independent Fianna Fail TD Paddy Keaveney who was elected in the 1976 By Election. Paddy Keavaney lost his seat in the 1977 General Election. He later rejoined Fianna Fail. (an old Leaflet of him standing for Fianna Fail).
20 years after her fathers election. Cecilia Keaveney was also first elected in a By Election, the by election due to the death of her Fathers former Colleague Neil T Blaney. (an old Neil T Blaney Leaflet)
From the 2004 Local Elections in Donegal, Independent Fianna Fail candidates Albert Doherty and Columba Doherty. Neither were elected.
From the 1991 Local Elections in the Buncrana LEA, Fine Gael candidates Seamus Gill , Mary McGroarty and Bernard McGuinness. Their concerns echo many of the concerns of today.
Bernard McGuinness stood in Donegal North East in 1981, 1992 and 2002 for Fine Gael but without winning a seat.
From the 1989 European Elections in Connaught-Ulster a Paddy Harte election flyer with the Fine Gael team of Paddy Harte, Angela Lupton and Joe McCartin on the back. Despite the ballot paperish look on the back there isn’t a ‘1’ beside Hartes name.
Donegal based Paddy Harte and Galway based Angela Lupton both failed to get in. The Leitrim based Joe McCartin retained his seat which he held from 1979 to 2004.
Liam Blaney (son of Harry Blaney, Brother of Niall Blaney, nephew of Neil T Blaney etc….), Joseph Cullen and Michael McBride from the 2004 Local Elections which were not brilliant by any means for Independent Fianna Fail. In Milford Liam Blaney held on to his seat but McBride and Cullen failed to get elected.
(kindly sent by IFF at the time)
Donegal Labour weren’t happy about being in coalition with Fine Gael. Being Socialists they didn’t want coalition with Fianna Fail either.God knows what they would have thought of the yet to be formed Progressive Democrats.
That small piece shows the problems parties (especially of the Left) have when going into Coalition. Here were Donegal Labour in effect, disavowing the party that they were standing for. Maybe thats why the literature differs from the 1985 Labour Party template.
Under the No Coalition is a small bit about Labour Youth and a recruitment ‘form’. The name to send off to is F McCafferty. Francis McClafferty stood in the 2004 local elections for the Socialist Party. In 2009 he was part of the group that set up the ‘Letterkenny Residents Party’ which had Tom Crossan elected to the UDC.
On the Reverse is a profile of Anne Wilkinson who was standing in the 1985 local elections for Labour.
In 1985, the troubles and their impact were still very much part of life.
Compare Liam MacElinneys profile here which is in effect his CV as a Republican volunteer to the Sinn Fein of today and its very different.
It is of course of its time. At roughly the same time in Dublin, candidates were emphasising their work in the community as well as giving a brief mention to their Republican CV.
‘Section 31’ gets a mention. Also prominent is the fact that Sinn Fein Councillors “.. play a full and active part in the work of their councils…” a nod to let the public know that they took their council seats ?, especially given that Gerry Adams had been elected an MP two years previous and continued the party policy of abstentionism from Westminister.
Reading this its hard to believe that Labour were in government at the time. .. Yet Donegal Labour had a Socialist Agenda. They “oppose the right -wing Labour leaders who are doing Fine Gaels dirty work in Government”.
On the North the focus was on the Working Class rather than the Nationalist/Unionist divide.
The whole thing is a valuable read to illustrate how ‘diverse’ the Labour Party were at the time.
I’m not sure but I suspect She was part of the Militant Labour group that became the Socialist Party.
Tadhg Colbert, James Larkin, Hugh Dorrian and Jim Lynch. An Interesting bunch here. Unusual to see a candidates name have two different spellings. Tadhg Colbert on the front, Tadgh Culbert on the back. He later joined Fianna Fail and stood for them in the 1994 UDC elections.
James Larkin was Neil T Blaneys director of elections. He had also been a member of the Seanad, nominated as part of the deal for Independent Fianna Fail TD Neil T Blaney to support the 1982 Haughey government. Whilst not quite the headline grabber the Gregory deal was, this was the one and only time the Independent Fianna Fail party had a seat in the Seanad.
(more…)
After Neil T. Blaney’s brother, Harry Blaneys defeat in the 1996 by-Election, Independent Fianna Fail easily won back the seat the following year with Harry Blaney again as candidate.
Harry retired in 2002 and it was his son Niall Blaney who successfully stood for Independent Fianna Fail. The third generation of Blaneys to be elected to the Dail.
After negotiations, Independent Fianna Fail rejoined the Fianna Fail mothership in 2006. So this would be some of the last General Election literature produced by the party. The party literature I have always uses orange as the background. (I’ve more that I will post in due course)
Neil Blaney was originally elected as a Fianna Fail TD in 1948 (a by-election caused by the death of his Father Neal Blaney). After a successful Ministerial career, he was sacked from cabinet over what led to the ‘Arms Trial’. It wasn’t though until 1972 that he was expelled from Fianna Fail for ‘conduct unbecoming’.
Neil Blaney then set about the foundation of the Independent Fianna Fail organisation in Donegal. He was returned 8 times to the Dail and twice to the European Parliment. After his Death in 1995 the subsequent by-election was won not by his Brother Harry, but by Cecilia Keaveney, daughter of former Independent Fianna Fail TD Paddy Keaveney….
These are from the 1989 Euro Elections. I have three different leaflets with the same picture but different slogans. The back of each leaflet was different and where you will get an idea of the policies and the experience of the man. His ‘Record’ reads like a historical document of the 50s, 60s,70s and 80s.
In an age where most politicians were members of GAA clubs, Blaney continued the tradition of soccer in Donegal as he had a spell as President of the FAI. You will also see the ‘Troops Out’ heading, Blaney was unashamedly Republican.
The Fianna Fail Ticket from the 1991 Local Elections in the Buncrana Area.
Aside from Joseph Doherty, Denis McGonagle and John Henry McLaughlin we have amongst others ex Fianna Fail TD Hugh Conaghan and former Independent Fianna Fail TD Paddy Keaveney (the only non Blaney to have sat in Dail Eireann for the Independent Fianna Fail organisation). The Late Paddy was father of current Senator and ex TD Cecilia Keaveney.
Click on images to make them larger
Irish Election Literature 
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