A turf war has broken out in the Fianna Fáil camp in Galway West, with the Minister of State for Rural Development, Mr Eamon Ó Cuív, accusing one of his party colleagues of running a "dirty tricks campaign" and trying to "steal votes" from him.
The Minister of State refused to name the candidate yesterday but it is believed to be the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey.
Both TDs have been asked by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to run a carefully-designed strategy to win back the third seat in the constituency which was held by the party until Mr Bobby Molloy joined the PDs in 1986.
Mr Ó Cuív said yesterday that a number of Connemara voters who were loyal to him had informed him that canvassers working for another election candidate had called to their doors.
They claimed they were told that Mr Ó Cuív "didn't need votes" as he was such a strong candidate. They said their candidate should be given Mr Ó Cuív's vote.
"Reputable people have informed me that there is a strong campaign being carried out to steal votes from me on the basis that I am 'too strong' and I will have a large surplus," said Mr Ó Cuív. "This is the oldest trick in the book and many a candidate has lost a seat because of it.
"As the candidate living in the most sparsely populated part of Connemara, I should be seen as the outsider," said Mr Ó Cuív, who topped an opinion poll in the constituency in January. "The reality is that no votes have yet been cast, and if I do well in this election, it is because of unremitting hard work over more than 10 years as a public representative."
Mr Fahey said he did not know of any such practices and did not condone them. A spokesman for Mr Fahey said the Minister had a large number of canvassers, and he couldn't control everything they did.
Mr Fahey, however, found himself in trouble on a second front yesterday in relation to his party's third candidate, Sen Margaret Cox, when it emerged that his canvassers had also called to houses in the south ward of Galway city on Thursday night. This is in spite of a party agreement to leave this area to Sen Cox's supporters in a bid to boost her vote.
The strategy involves Mr Ó Cuív agreeing not to canvas in the south and west wards, while Mr Fahey would leave the south ward (comprising Salthill and Knocknacarra) to the senator, but would do a leaflet drop.
Sen Cox had no comment to make on the reports. A spokesman for Mr Fahey said both candidates were undertaking a joint canvas in the city last night
