Election Online – The Opposition

Parties that are formed in parliament tend to lack cohesion. Fine Gael, whose forerunner was founded within the 3rd Dáil in 1922, expemplify this.

Traditionally, Fine Gael has relied on its notable candidates to win votes, as it has lacked the organisation and singular vision that is Fianna Fáil’s greatest strength. Even today, this lack of synergy manifests itself on the blogging sphere.

Whereas Labour candidates flag each others’ blogs, Fine Gael candidates hardly acknowledge each other. Has the party stolen Sinn Féin’s clothes, ‘Oursleves Alone?’

Moreover, few Fine Gael TDs have bothered. As I noted in my first post, I expected younger TDs to be to the fore in this regard. However, prominent young politicians such as Simon Coveney and Olwyn Enright have foregone the blog, which is quite surprising.

To be fair to Coveney, though, he does make an appeal to younger voters. A lone voice in the darkness, nonetheless:

Lucinda Creighton is running for the party in Dublin South-East. Creighton is notably more aggressive in her campaigning than any of the Labour candidates, if her blog is anything to go by. An example of this is her haranguing of the Tánaiste on crime, available here http://www.lucindacreighton.ie/crime.html .

It’s also obvious that Creighton cares little for the hob-nobbing of an election campaign. Aside from a small pictures gallery, her site is devoted to policy, e.g. http://www.lucindacreighton.ie/crime1.html .

In contrast, Cllr.Eugene Regan is all about the parish pump. Regan http://www.eugeneregan.ie/?m=200704 knows the issues, Blackrock Park seemingly being one them. His site does what it says on the tin, although to call it spartan would be an understatement.

Local issues, such as clamping, the environment and traffic concerns are common in South Dublin. Regan makes a decent effort to incorporate new technology into his site, though, the most interesting being his Bloomsday interview http://www.video4web.net/bloomsday2_lge_format.html (Quick player required).

South Kildare Councillor Richard Daly is low profile. Very low profile. So camera shy is Richard that there are no pictures on his website, not to mention video footage. Only in Ireland would a politician bother setting up a site that doesn’t publicise who he is!

Here’s his URL http://richarddaly.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html, though I hardly feel it’s worth your while accessing it.

John O’Mahony has a lot on his plate at the moment. Not only is he running for Fine Gael in Mayo, a very large constituency, but he is also training the Mayo county footballers, a position that brings about quite a bit of pressure in itself. John’s campaign video is available here:

Hence, time is at a premium for Johnno. However, he still makes more of an effort than some FG runners to show himself. Content is sparse, but photos of the bold John out and about in smart-casual are plentiful here http://johnomahony.finegael.ie/Representatives/common/index.cfm.

Remember when I said that Eugene Regan was constituency-oriented? Well come back Eugene, all is forgiven. Senator Joe McHugh doesn’t even bother to reference himself in his blog’s URL, “Donegal Matters” (http://www.donegalmatters.com/ ).

Obviously Sen. McHugh feels that news to the Hills carries slow, for the site doesn’t make a pretence of discussing national politics. Instead, he says that he “..feels it’s vital that Dublin hears what matters to Donegal and its people.” You tell ‘em, Joe. Here’s the bold Joe out and about: