A Fianna Fáil general election candidate has told of how she received internal and external “backlash” after being added to the ticket in Offaly, where the party is running two candidates after Barry Cowen was elected to the European Parliament.
Councillor Claire Murray was last month added to the ticket alongside Cllr Tony McCormack in Offaly as Fianna Fáil attempts to make gains in the constituency. Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms Murray said that since the announcement of her candidacy she has experienced pointed comments and remarks which she said had been difficult to endure.
She said some local members “have made comments about how I am young and female and inexperienced – but I have 20 years of experience as a nurse. It just doesn’t sit right with me to say that I do not have enough experience. There is almost this charge that I am the token female candidate added to the ticket [because of the quotas] and that does not sit right with me either. I am not a gender quota candidate.
“If I knew that this is what it was going to be like during the campaign, I’m not sure I would have gone for it. But I’ve said that I would go ahead, and I will. I have a daughter and if me doing this and speaking about this makes the path easier for her and her generation, then it’s worth it. Because it has been difficult.”
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She said a local party member phoned her recently and asked her to think of her young daughter before she started campaigning. “They said to me: ‘I saw you at an event there. Your daughter is only seven, she’s a bit young. Would you not calm down with the politics and look after her?’ In that moment, I thought, am I making a mistake?
“But I am going to carry on. The backlash has been within the party and outside of it, but I cannot fault the party leadership and HQ, they have made sure to check in with me.”
She said that there were certain members who “just don’t like the thoughts of a young woman on the ticket”.
This is the first general election with a 40 per cent candidate quota for women in political parties. Failure to reach quota means a reduction of 50 per cent in State funding for political parties, meaning hundreds of thousands of euro losses for big parties. The Women for Election group has said that at present 171 women have been selected or have indicated that they will run in this election.
“With the increase from 160 to 174 seats, and with vacancies and retirements of at least 32 TDs [six of whom are women], voters will have a greater chance and choice to elect more talented, capable, competent women to the Dáil than in previous general elections,” the group said.
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