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Senators Lorraine Clifford-Lee and james Reilly RollingNews.ie

Tweet-gate and a former minister looking for a comeback: The Dublin Fingal lowdown

The upcoming by-election is to replace MEP Clare Daly.

AHEAD OF THE four by-elections taking place in two weeks’ time, we’re profiling each of the constituencies.

Today, we’re focusing on Dublin Fingal.

The by-elections are taking place on 29 November, in order to replace TDs who were elected to the European Parliament in May.

In Dublin Fingal, the by-election is to replace Clare Daly, a former Independents 4 Change TD.

The large constituency takes in areas such as Balbriggan, Malahide, Donabate, Swords, Lusk and Portmarnock. 

Who’s running?

In alphabetical order: 

Glenn Brady (independent): A social care worker who has campaigned for change in the government’s approach to housing, psychiatric services, and data protection.

Tracey Carey (Social Democrats): A businesswoman with an interest in employment rights, affordable childcare and mental health services.

Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fáil): A solicitor who is the deputy leader of Fianna Fail in the Seanad, as well as the party’s spokesperson on Justice and Equality, Children and Youth Affairs.

Councillor Ann Graves (Sinn Féin): She was elected to Fingal County Council in May, and has been vocal about issues such as local boil-water notices and the cost of insurance premiums. 

Cormac McKay (independent): A previous general and local election candidate, his priorities include housing, high rents, and climate change

Councillor Dean Mulligan (Independents 4 Change): A social care worker and Right2Water campaigner who was elected to Fingal County Council in May and is looking to regain the seat for I4C following Daly’s move to Brussels. 

Councillor Joe O’Brien (Green Party): Another new councillor elected during the recent ‘Green wave’, he says his priorities include housing, homelessness, and sustainability

Gemma O’Doherty (independent): A campaigner and former journalist who unsuccessfully contested the European election in Dublin earlier this year. She is the founder of Anti-Corruption Ireland

Senator James Reilly (Fine Gael): The former health minister and former deputy leader of Fine Gael is seeking to make a Dáil comeback after losing his seat in the same constituency in 2016. He is currently the party’s spokesperson on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in the Seanad.

Councillor Duncan Smith (Labour): Elected to Fingal County Council in 2014, he lists his priorities as affordable housing, sustainable transport and workers’ rights. 

Who are the current TDs?

The following TDs were elected to the constituency in the 2016 general election:

  • Alan Farrell (Fine Gael) – elected after count 10
  • Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fáil) – elected after count one
  • Louise O’Reilly (Sinn Féin)- elected after count 10
  • Brendan Ryan (Labour) – elected after count 10
  • (Independent Clare Daly, now an MEP, was elected after count four)

What are the main issues?

The Fingal area was among the locations affected by two recent boil-water notices, and the issue is coming up regularly on the campaign trail. 

Following heavy rain, the source water going into Leixlip Water Treatment Plant was cloudy due to suspended particles. The old plant at the site – which produces 20% of the overall daily water demand for the greater Dublin area – was not able to cope with the cloudiness levels.

The most recent boil-water notice lasted for over a week and locals are concerned it’s only a matter of time before another notice is put in place, despite the mitigation measures being implemented by Irish Water and others.  

A major sewage treatment plant in Clonshaugh was this week given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála, despite thousands of objections

The availability and cost of housing is also a major issue in the area, as are public transport, childcare and health services. 

Anything of note happened on the trail so far?

The main issue making headlines on the campaign trail to date has involved Fianna Fáil’s candidate Lorraine Clifford-Lee

The Senator apologised after offensive tweets she sent several years ago re-emerged, including ones where she used words such as “knacker” and “pikey”.

She later deleted all her tweets. 

tweets Twitter Twitter

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Clifford-Lee said she would like to apologise “face-to-face” to the Travelling community.

A Fianna Fáil statement noted that Clifford-Lee “wrote these tweets in a personal capacity many years ago. It was before she was elected or became a member of the parliamentary party”.

“It is party policy for some time that each member is responsible for their own tweets. The Fianna Fáil party does not condone these tweets and believe they were inappropriate.

“However, Senator Clifford-Lee has acknowledged her mistakes, has apologised and deeply regrets them,” it said.

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    Mute Shane Morris
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 10:44 PM

    If only the Brits managed to get China to agree to some kind of guarantee in 1997…say a backstop, just in case China ever reneged on an international treaty…despite all the reassurances.

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    Mute wattsed56
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    Jul 4th 2019, 9:00 AM

    @Shane Morris: Perhaps read the last paragraph of the article.

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    Mute Mushy Peas
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    Jul 4th 2019, 9:40 AM

    @wattsed56: you missed his point entirely.

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    Mute Fergus Murphy
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 10:32 PM

    Maybe the Brits can solve all of this with existing technology

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    Mute Devilsavocado
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 11:03 PM

    China is going to do what China is going to do and there is nothing the British can do about. The Chinese have little to fear from anybody in either military or economical sanctions, they have become a massive world power that puts all other countries but the US into a lower league, Britain better get used to the fact they are no longer at the big boys table.

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    Mute Liam O hAodha
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 11:42 PM

    The Brits really have made a balls of everywhere they occupied & put borders in, Ireland, China, Palestine, India/Pakistan, North Africa, Middle East, Argentina/Malvinas islands, actually everywhere they caused problems

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    Mute John Smith
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    Jul 4th 2019, 8:59 AM

    @Liam O hAodha: Well funny enough if you don’t put up borders then you don’t get countries . You are a nationalists . You do believe in dividing up big countries into small countries do you not .

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    Mute Sean Oige
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 10:32 PM

    Suits China to wipe out hk financial sector and allow Shanghai to become the financial sector in the region. Will be interesting to see large corporates response if that happens…

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    Mute Thomas Devlin
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 10:51 PM

    Send in the gunboats,how dare those foreign chappies threaten our great British empire

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    Mute Murf
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    Jul 4th 2019, 1:41 AM

    @Thomas Devlin: you f€&@“g idiot

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    Mute Cal Mooney
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 11:11 PM

    You really have to wonder what the english are up to? Do they really think they can influence China. They definitely are not going to be influencing the EU from here on out. They long for their former colonial days and the sickening experience that every occupied nation suffered. Maybe China should invade england and bring true freedom to its people by getting rid of the current regime installed there. And release Julian Assange while they are at it. If only.

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    Mute John Smith
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    Jul 4th 2019, 10:32 AM

    @Cal Mooney: How dare Britain stand for the rights of the people of Hong Kong .

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    Mute Ben Jamen
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 11:44 PM

    Great bunch of lads though…

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    Mute Angry_Man41
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    Jul 3rd 2019, 11:02 PM

    China, conform!

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    Mute kushal kumar
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    Jul 4th 2019, 5:41 AM

    News reports in the month of June 2019 say that Hong Kong is these days upset with the government. The city’s pro- Beijing leaders are reportedly pushing a bill through legislation that would allow extradition to any with which it already does not already have a treaty – including mainland China for the first time. Huge protesting crowds gathered Hong Kong on 9 June as anger rose over the proposed bill. The protesters also assembled in large number on 1 July 2019 , the anniversary day of Hongkong becoming part of China , turned violent and marched to the Parliament. In this context , it is apt to refer readers to this Vedic astrology writer’s predictive alerts for more care and appropriate strategy in article – “ world trends in April to August 2019” – brought to public domain widely in the month of March and subsequently on 5 April in present year 2019. The alert had said that during a period of four and a half months from mid- April to August , particularly June in 2019 , China may take more care and appropriate strategy in relation to sort of protests among some Unions or associations or federation within the country. The related text in the article reads like this :-
    “ 4. Unions , federations , groups or associations within the country may show signs of divergence in more than one sphere of life. In other words , the spirit of unity in them may be short of being ideal”. It seems the alert has been precisely meaningful.
    Note : – This writer’s other significant time-tested predictive work in relation to the U.S. so far can be found at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/4897/ and wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/5060/. Separately and in addition , this writer has alerted already on 22 June , 2019 that more care and appropriate strategy may be called for during a period of fortnight from 25 September to 9 October , particularly on 28 -29 September , in the present year 2019 against likely War or WW3 -like scenario , massive earthquakes , storms-tornadoes-cyclones , floods, landslide , road-rail-air safety concerns , economic and financial major worrisome concerns , health woes related to stomach-head-brain , human malice at its height in operation and the like. Vulnerability of a country or region appears to be main determining factor. Having said that , it may be made clear that human more care and appropriate strategy has weight over planetary trend generating impacts.

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    Mute Donal O'Carroll
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    Jul 4th 2019, 6:07 AM

    @kushal kumar: and your point is …?

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Jul 4th 2019, 8:11 AM

    @kushal kumar: ✋

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    Mute Sean Buckley
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    Jul 4th 2019, 9:16 AM

    @kushal kumar: Will Galway bate Mayo!

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