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Updated 1.45pm
FINE GAEL WILL KICK-START its general election preparations later this week with the first of 40 selection conventions set to take place in Dublin on Thursday night.
While the other major parties have already begun selecting candidates in recent weeks, Fine Gael has been waiting for its internal election strategy committee, headed by justice minister Frances Fitzgerald, to finish assessing how many candidates should be run in each constituency.
Fitzgerald’s own constituency of Dublin Mid-West will be the first to formally pick its candidates this Thursday when the minister and her fellow incumbent Derek Keating are selected by local members.
While dates have been set for a number of other selection conventions, more contentious constituencies are unlikely to select candidates until later this year.
The big problem for Fine Gael will be gender quotas.
With the party set to run as many as 90 candidates across the country, a third of these will need to be female in order to avoid fines. In some cases this could mean adding female candidates to tickets even if they have little hope of being elected just to ensure the party does not lose State funding.
One area where that won’t be a problem is Meath East. Incumbent TDs Regina Doherty and Helen McEntee, who took her late father Shane’s seat in a by-election two years ago, are likely to be selected at a convention in Kells on Sunday, 29 March.
But it’s in Dublin where the internal battles could get really interesting with up to five potentially contentious selection conventions delayed and unlikely to take place until after the summer, TheJournal.ie understands.
In addition to Dublin Mid-West, four selection conventions in the capital have been scheduled for April with another in May.
These include Dublin West on 13 April where Senator Catherine Noone is set to be added to the ticket alongside Health Minister Leo Varadkar.
In Dublin Bay South, which holds its convention on 16 April, incumbent TD Eoghan Murphy will be selected with councillor Kate O’Connell likely to join him on the ticket. Her council colleague Kieran Binchy is also set to contest the convention but is unlikely to be selected with sources indicating he could withdraw on the night.
However, Binchy told us this afternoon that he intends to “fight to the end to be on that ticket”.
Dublin Central will select incumbent TD and Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe at a convention on 27 April. He faces an uphill battle to retain the party’s seat in a redrawn constituency that has lost a number of Fine Gael-friendly areas.
Dublin Bay North will select Jobs Minister Richard Bruton on 30 April with failed local election candidate Stephanie Regan and former lord mayor Naoise Ó Muirí also vying for a spot on the Fine Gael ticket.
Dublin South-West is scheduled to hold its selection convention on 28 May with failed by-election candidate, Senator Cait Keane, along with local councillors Colm Brophy, who is an ally of former TD Brian Hayes, and Anne-Marie Dermody also vying for selection.
Dates have not been set for Dublin Fingal, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin North West, Dublin Rathdown and Dublin South-Central.
Incumbent TDs James Reilly and Alan Farrell are likely to be selected in Dublin Fingal although many believe there is realistically only one Fine Gael seat in the constituency.
Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett is automatically re-elected in Dún Laoghaire which means incumbent Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell-O’Connor will have a running mate, most likely councillors Maria Bailey or Barry Ward.
In Dublin North-West the highly-rated councillor Noel Rock is certain to be picked. The party could add a female running mate to boost their quota with Aoibhinn Tormey, the daughter of Rock’s former rival Bill Tormey, seen as a possible candidate.
It’s unclear whether incumbent TD Catherine Byrne will run for re-election in Dublin South-Central, which, from a Fine Gael point of view, has suffered from the loss of Terenure into Dublin Bay South.
However the real intrigue is in the capital’s constituency of death, Dublin Rathdown (formerly Dublin South), which has gone from five to three seats.
Fine Gael incumbents Alan Shatter and Olivia Mitchell have both indicated publicly that they want to run again, but also vying for spots on what’s likely to be a two candidate ticket are councillors Neale Richmond and Josepha Madigan.
Four into two doesn’t go so this could be a particularly feisty selection convention, whenever it does eventually take place.
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I think the card is a great idea but for some reason in this country we seem to have to object to or wreck every new concept or idea that may in fact promote and implement efficient and effective services.
@Sean Higgins: When getting a driving licence, why is a Passport not an acceptable form of identity? If nations and airlines the world over trust it, why cannot the RSA, ffs?
Some years ago, the HSE applied to the Dail to allow to use PPSN as the new national patient ID. Permission was necessary as Govt Agencies must have Oireachteas approval for using PPSN. Permission was refused as it was considered a step too far impinging on citizens right to privacy.
Some may say that there is nothing to worry about if you are not doing anything wrong – so why we need to worry about Ireland having a government acting in a hostile way to it’s own law abiding citizens.
I now suggest to you one name as an example- Sgt McCabe. He has been dealt with in a hostile and illegal way by, not one, but TWO government agencies – for doing the right thing about wrongdoing (but against the personal interests of politicians and senior public servants)
@Alan Lawlor: he obviously didn’t use his PPSN papers to fend off the big bad government and it’s dark agencies. If only he had a passport, certificate of tax compliance, ppsn, driver licence, welfare applications, land registry deeds…if only he had those to hand he could have escaped all of this!
If you honestly think a PPSN card would or would not change a Govt agency from doing jack schicht you are far more messed up than any other govt cronies out there. Get a grip.
@Sean Higgins: we object to the govenment bypassing the constitution and fear mongering to justify their actions.
@Sean Higgins: the government need to grow a pair and make this card compulsory we are living in very scary times.
@Sean Higgins: Why have we driving license offices all over the country if you need the PSC. They are redundant now surely?
@Alan Lawlor: it worries me when a government minister feels the need to lie. A lie always points to a hidden agenda.
Dictionary definition of Mandatory; compelled by law or mandate; COMPULSORY.
Dictionary synonyms of Compulsory;
Obligatory, MANDATORY, required, requisite, necessary, essential, statutory.
Quite the lie when she attempts to rewrite the Oxford dictionary to back up her words!!!!
@M Bowe: if only her phrase was a bit more catchy it might have replaced GUBU
@Sean Higgins: you must be a FG devotee
@Alan Lawlor: are you saying our government actually tell lies? Ridiculous! Next you’ll be saying that ministers are corrupt
Never heard the likes of it!………
Introducing a national ID card without debate or legislation is simply wrong and saying its not compulsory when it’s required to access simple state services such as obtaining a passport or driving licence is ludicrous… And that’s before using it as a means of denying people welfare,which as a matter of fact does impinge on their constitutional rights.
Whether you agree or disagree with the card is irrelevant to the process by which it has been introduced which has usurped the Irish people’s democratic rights and fair process.
@Donal Milmo-Penny: exactly
@lavbeer: if you don’t want to use the services that require this card then don’t get it very simple. I’ll have no issue, other than the time off work needed to get it, when I have to apply for one.
You provide more info online every day than what’s contained on the card
@Michael Hayden: god help u on pension day when accessing your paid on taxes..
Pah, such bed wetters here. I’ve just registered and made an appointment to get one.
@KerryBlueMike: how do you apply for one
@Barry Buckley: Made my appointment two days ago. All the info is here: http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Public-Services-Card_holder.aspx
This RSA clown needs to read the DSP ministers statement, where does the RSA get the notion these PSC will help in the fight against fraudulent driving licences? Absurd statement. These PSC are not and can not be used as official ID, Gardai are specifically prohibited from requesting the presentation of them and they can only be used as part of the equally absurd driver theory test application/ process.
@Joseph Dempsey: Yes but that’s not to say that the holder of a said card can not voluntarily produce it to aid identification process.
@KerryBlueMike: this voluntary production you speak of, is it mandatory?
Some people have little to complain about
The Irish communist state takes another step on the road to Venezuela.
It’s for your own good.
Please keep in step.
@Cram Wood: not you though – you’re too smart and “woke” for all that!
So the ‘new’ driving license card requires a new I.D…..what has all this to do with the RSA? We don’t need a national ID. What happened to passports? This is more government deception by EU/FG. Don’t they get paid well?
Is the Green Party against everything?
@Martin Sinnott: Everything except taxes oh and of course bailing out bank that have gone bust. Ie Anglo.
@Martin Sinnott: if the Greens an F/F are against it , I think it must be a good idea.
In our ballygobackwards state as usual we fcuk everything up,if the government had balls,wed all have proper ID cards,instead of this thing where they’ll keep adding to it bit by bit, and down the road declare it null and void ,and eventually issue the card needed.
Will someone tell me how you can go to a hole in the wall and get money out without a Card this 201 7
@pat seery: JCB
@Rocky Road: would u even need a driving license for the jcb.
@TheBluffmaster2: prob not lol
@Rocky Road: couple ounces of Semtex maybe, as a wild guess?
@Gus Sheridan: prob Gus havent tried either method,just got used to being broke lol.the JCB used to be popular one time though
@Rocky Road: vvv good can u drive one? might have a job for u,late at night though.
@Gus Sheridan: ffs they’d be nothing left of the money then,or the jcb
@billy Dorney: wow Billy,is this a job interview.i cant drive a JCB,but willing to take lessons.also willing to work unsocial hours ha ha
The card is good for the items now outlined by the Department of Social Protection. No more. However to deny one a pension because they do not have a card is excessive use of something which is not legally binding. Mandatory or compulsory take your pick. You can’t have both.
@Paul Coughlan: it is mandatory within the DSP. But it needed for services beyond that department. That changes everything.
The woman in question was/is to a non contributory pension managed by DSP so she plays by their rules. The only valid argument I read there was someone who collects disability payment for daughter so one card needed for this and her travel meaning she can’t be traveling when payment is collected for her
@Paul Coughlan: Can one of our overpaid,underworked,corrupt ministers explain why a valid passport is no longer accepted as a means of identification? Going down the stupid unnecessary same road as postcodes that dont work……
@lavbeer: Rules have to be lawful.
And we’re going to make it as hard as possible to get one.
You can drop into our office if your employer can let you have a day off.
typical Ireland
@Martin Murphy: Or you could simply treat yourself with an hour off and squeeze a visit to Lidl in as well !
@Martin Murphy: You get 20 statutory days leave a year.
Use one of them.
@Martin Murphy: A day off? An hour at most would get the job done. Anyway you are entitled to a minimum of 20 days holiday. Surely you could use an hour out of one of those days to get the job done if your employer would not let you off. Incidentally out of curiosity how would you get to say the likes of a doctor during the working week of your employer that bad.
A National ID card, if it helps to eliminate fraud, has to be a good idea. Introducing it through underhand methods will defeat the purpose. Regina’s splitting of hairs, double speak and lack of clarity is not the type of PR needed to push this through.
@Liam McGowan: Regina opens her mouth and your disbelief app kicks in in your brain.Another useless MeFeiner
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. The card is an excellent idea. Enough with the manufactured fuss by some.
Seriously quit this type of comment “if you have nothing to hide”, I’m not hiding anything but I am entitled to a non over bearing government that protects my privacy and not use it to monitor me.
@Ken Smyth: it boils down to the fact that people do not trust the government with our personal information.
@Declan Carroll: Meanwhile you’re forced to give permission for your data to be given to and stored by a US company https://twitter.com/williamhboney1/status/901190035269185536
Here’s a idea why can’t they turn the public services card into a drivers license also. There problem solved
@Tom Harpur: also make it a valid document for travel in the EU and a card for accessing all public services… But first implement it properly through legislation and regulation.
The government pisses all over the constitution when ever it likes and uses the word constitution to sheild for corporate tax dodgers.
I have no problem with national ID cards but i want to see high net worth, shell company directors and off shore account holders signed up first.
Privacy is really only a concern of the very wealthy, the rest of us have nothing to fear.
And it also cures the flu, measles, warts, and mumps, and it is also known to get you over a doozey of a hangover.
So a valid passport can no longer be accepted as a form of identity? More stupid ideas from this FG bunch.
@Gus Sheridan: Which one of their benefactors is behind this?
Most European countries already have a national identity card, Ireland shouldn’t be any different & it should be mandatory that as soon as you become a teenager you automatically receive one & must have it with you at all times. It would also make Ireland a much safer place
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