Welcome to Up the Poll: your guide to the European elections!

By Naomi Linehan

Your Guide to The European Elections in the Dublin Constituency: The door is closed, and the nominations are in. As of Midday, Monday 11 May, all political parties have put forward their candidates for the upcoming European Parliament Elections, which will be held on 5 June. So the European election campaign is finally in full swing, and lamp-posts everywhere are feeling the strain. In the wee small hours of the morning, election posters have been creeping their way onto lamp-posts around the country. But who are these candidates, and what do they have to offer? This year we see a reduction in the number of seats in our fair capital- which means that as the candidates go head to head, one of the sitting MEPs will be leaving the European Parliament following these elections.

It’s going to be a blood bath in the bear pit that is the political arena, and I think that you, the voter, should be fully prepared so that when you put your quill and ink to that ballot paper, you can be fully confident that you have made a fully informed decision. Here is the final list of contestants in the Dublin Constituency: (Can we have a drum roll please?) Proinsias De Rossa- Labour, Mary Lou McDonald – Sinn Féin, Gay Mitchell- Fine Gael, Eoin Ryan- Fianna Fail, Deirdre de Burca- Green Party, Joe Higgins- Socialist Party, Caroline Simmons – Libertas, Eibhlin Byrne-Fianna Fail, Patricia McKenna- Independent

Proinsias accused of telling porkies, and McKenna’s given up on her Greens:

Let’s meet a few of the candidates, and find out the latest gossip that’s had the candidates fussing and fighting over the last few days:

Proinsias De Rossa:

Bio: Proinsias has served as Labour MEP for Dublin since 1999. He represented Dublin North-West in the Dáil for 20 years. Proinsias was elected leader of The Workers Party in 1988, and left in 1992 to found Democratic Left. He led Democratic Left into the 1994-1997 Rainbow Government, where he served as Minister for Social Welfare. His achievements included introducing the first ever National Anti-Poverty Strategy.

He is a hit with the ladies, as many women will remember him as the Minister who delivered justice when he ensured that 70,000 women who had been paid a lower social welfare rate than men received their back payments. He has also served on the European Convention that produced the Draft European Constitution, which was in turn the basis for the Lisbon Treaty.

Latest Gossip: Things are heating up between Proinsias and Libertas. Recently Caroline Simons of Libertas launched a strong attack on Proinsias De Rossa, saying he is “a man who has been 15 years in the European Parliament and who next year will be 70 years of age.” Blatant ageism? I wonder how long Proinsias will put up with these comments being made about his age.
But that’s not all. Libertas have also attacked Proinsias’ openness and honesty when it comes to the Lisbon treaty. Declan Ganley of Libertas has said "There's a big difference between people who have age and experience on their side and people who have become cynical and tired of the political process - so cynical in De Rossa's case he actually voted not to respect the outcome of the Irish referendum. That is a deep cynicism and maybe in his case he needs to do something else.”

Mary Lou McDonald:

Bio: Mary Lou McDonald is a member of the Sinn Fein Ard Chomhairle and MEP for Dublin. She is the party's National Chairperson.
She previously worked as a consultant for the Irish Productivity Centre, a researcher for the Institute of European Affairs and a trainer in the trade union sponsored Partnership Unit of the Educational and Training Services Trust. She previously worked for the party in co-ordinating the work of Sinn Fein elected representatives across the island. She is a member of the Employment and Social Affairs committee in the European Parliament and a substitute of the Civil Liberties committee. Mary Lou McDonald is married to Martin Lanigan and they have a baby daughter. Educated in Trinity College, Dublin, the University of Limerick and Dublin City University Mary Lou has studied English Literature, European Integration Studies and Human Resource Management.

Latest Gossip: Mary Lou has also had a go at Proinsias De Rossa. A row has erupted between the two MEPs after Proinsias De Rossa, speaking on the Vincent Browne show, denied voting in the EU parliament last year against respecting the Irish peoples decision on Lisbon.
Responding to his denial Mary Lou McDonald said, “my fellow Dublin MEP is telling a big fat porky.”

Mary Lou’s side of the story is that on the 20 February last year, Proinsias voted against an amendment to the de Mendez/de Vigo report submitted by Sinn Fein's EU parliamentary group that called on MEPs to ‘undertake to respect the outcome of the referendum in Ireland.’
She went on to say that “Not only did Proinsias de Rossa vote against the amendment he then went on to justify this shameful decision on the basis that it was, and I quote, 'a Sinn Fein stunt’ that the parliament could not enforce anyway.”

However, it’s not all plain sailing for Mary Lou as her attendance levels have come into question in recent months. Has our Sinn Fein MEP been skiving off on jet setting holidays when she should have been representing us in Brussels? She claims she was on maternity leave for much of 2006, but Fine Gael say her attendance was very low at parliamentary meetings. Well, a new website -http://www.votewatch.eu/ will help solve this debate. The website has just been launched, and for the first time ever we will be able to see the complete voting records of MEPs. The pressure is on now for MEPs who have been hanging out in the bike shed when they should have been in class!

Eoin Ryan

Bio: Eoin Ryan MEP has been serving the people of Dublin in various capacities for the last twenty years. First elected to Dublin City Council in 1985, he was appointed to the Seanad in 1989 and was first elected to the Dáil in 1992. He served as Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy from 2000 to 2002. He was elected MEP for Dublin in the European elections in June 2004.

Eoin comes from a long tradition of public service. His late father, also Eoin Ryan, was a Senator for over thirty years and a senior figure in Fianna Fail. His grandfather, Dr Jim Ryan, was one of the founding fathers of the State and represented the people of Wexford in the Dáil until 1968. Over a long and distinguished career, he served in various ministries including Minister for Agricultural Affairs and as Minister for Finance.

Latest Gossip: When asked how people should vote, Eoin Ryan said that after people vote for him, and his running mate Eibhlin Byrne, then they should vote for “pro-European candidates.” However, when Green Party Senator Dan Boyle was quizzed on how the Greens would be advising their voters, he refused to call on their supporters to transfer their votes to Fianna Fail, insisting that they were in a coalition, but had never entered an election pact. So it would seem the Greens may have had enough of Fianna Fail. Eoin Ryan has a strong electoral record and senior analysts believe his appeal across south Dublin will stand him in good stead, but Mary Lou McDonald will be hot at his heels, as she has passed up the chance to contest in the Dublin Central by-election in order to concentrate on retaining her European seat. She’s not going to give in easily, and is set to be one of Ryan’s greatest competitors.

Patricia McKenna

Bio: Patricia McKenna, was once a member of the Green Party. She is now an independent politician. She became the first Green Party candidate in Ireland to be elected to the European Parliament in 1994, and was then re-elected in 1999. She lost her seat in the last election, but continued to be involved in politics, acting as one of the Dáil advisers to Ireland’s first Green Party TD Roger Garland. She is a former teacher, and is active in the People’s movement, which successfully campaigned for the rejection of the Lisbon treaty last year.

She is best known for her victory in the Supreme Court in 1995 when she argued successfully that it was unconstitutional for the Government of Ireland to spend tax payers money promoting only one side of the argument in referendum campaigns. This led to the establishment of the Referendum Commission.

Other policies include an opposition to nuclear power, genetically modified food, and United States military aggression in various parts of the world.

Latest Gossip: Patricia McKenna has left the Green Party, saying that her former Green Party colleagues were “nothing but hypocrites.” She said she felt “embarrassed” by the party, and accused the Greens of “selling out” She has also claimed that Minister for the Environment John Gormley has lost all credibility and accused Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan of abandoning key Green campaigns. She has been quoted as saying, “I really don’t know how Eamon can live with himself after all his promises.” This has sparked a rebuttal from Senator Deirdre de Burca, who is the party's Dublin candidate in the European election. She says she is not surprised at Patricia’s decision, saying that she offered the Greens nothing but criticism.