Labour councillor elected Dublin Lord Mayor

dublin | politics / elections | opinion/analysis Tuesday June 22, 2004 01:06 by Dublin watcher

Michael Conaghan, a Dublin City Labour councillor has been elected on the back of a Fine Gael, Labour Party, Green and Progressive Democrat pact, by a vote of 27 to 10.

This is a very interesting result.

Why?

This pact sees Labour admantly reject the 'radical' left option on the council of an alliance with Sinn Fein and 'socialist' independents. Not hugely suprising, but it will probably have dissapointed the more adherent day dreamers in Sinn Fein and those on the extreme left of labour, especially Labour Youth.

This is a clear indication that the Labour HQ endorses an alliance with Fine Gael and the Greens. This was important to Fine Gael, on the back of Pat Rabbitte's failure to call for transfers to Fine Gael in the local elections.

More interestingly, it suggest a Michael McDowell grap for PD power. Wendy Hederman, the sole Progressive Democrat, is a product of her mother and Mcdowell, and it is unlikely she made her own decision in this regard. Her decision to support the 'Civic Alliance' suggests that the Dublin South East wing of the party is looking at, if not exactly embracing, the idea of PD involvement in the anti-Fianna fail government after the next general election. This is the only interpretation of her decision that I can offer, as there is no way that Fine Gael or Labour will give her the position of Lord Mayor or deputy

All very interesting