Noonan Must Rebuild Bridges for Fine Gael in Co. Wicklow

Wicklow will be a key constituency if Fine Gael's new leader, Michael Noonan is to achieve his aim of toppling Fianna Fail from government in the next general election. He will know about the problems of the past in Wicklow with the perceived imposition of Shane Ross onto the constituency election ticket and the more recent attempt to bring independent councillor, Nicky Kelly on board.

The Ross scenario sent some staunch but disillusioned members in Wicklow scurrying from the party and leaving a major split in the county that has never since been fully patched up. Then to add insult to injury, party staff approached Nicky Kelly to run in the next election without any consultation with members on the ground in the county.

Fully conscious that Wicklow once produced two seats for Fine Gael, won by Godfrey Timmins and Gemma Hussey, Noonan will be undoubtedly going all out to win those seats again so that he can be on course to take on the role as Taoiseach.

Billy Timmins will be the front runner and take the seat. But who will the party be looking towards in the county to pull in the second one? Undoubtedly, the second runner will come from north Wicklow and while everyone may be looking at George Jones as the likely candidate, it would be a mistake to rule out Derek Mitchell who took a seat in the last local election. Derek maintains a high profile and has been doing himself justice.

Apparently, the feeling on the ground is that Fine Gael should run three candidates. If this comes about then who will be the third one? Most likely it will be someone from south of the county and this is where the approach to Nicky Kelly may well have come in.

While sitting county councillor Sylvester Bourke may have ambitions to enter the Dail at some stage it is unlikely that he will enter the race at the next election. There is a feeling that Bourke will hold back to see how Nicky Kelly performs as an independent candidate and will then base his national political future on that performance.

Whether or not Fine Gael headquarters were aware of Bourke's feelings when they approached Kelly is not known at this stage.However, WicklowToday.com can reveal that there was more to the approach to Kelly than met the eye. Kelly has a family connection with Fine Gael in Mayo. He also has a connection, although somewhat more tenuous, with the party in Carlow.

Three top party members along with the National Secretary met Kelly in Jack White's pub last year and put to him the proposition of joining Fine Gael and running in the next election. Kelly since turned down the offer but not before he, quite rightly milked all the publicity he could from it.

It will now become a great spectator sport to watch what happens in Fine Gael in the county with the arrival of Noonan at the helm. It will also be interesting to see who will be running for the party in the next election.