Mary White's Republican Cred?

Tuesday August 13, 2002 14:01

by Pat C

The following piece for the "Phoenix" deserves wider circulation. It was sent to me & I don't have a link for it. I'm not posting this in any sectarian spirit. I think however SF should justify their support for capitalist candidates. Is LIR unionised? What are Whites views on other issues? On what basis dis SF choose her above others?

The following piece for the "Phoenix" deserves wider circulation and discussion (assuming, of course, that the facts are true)

>"Mary White's Republican Cred
>
>Jealous Fianna Fáil aspirants who believe that mary White's successful Senate campaign was due to her clout as chairman of the the party's policy committee, would be a little wide of the mark.
>
>It was Sinn Féin support that tilted the balance in Mary's favour which is a little strange considering that the managing director of Lir
>Chocolates hardly fits into the socio-economic profile of a Sinn Féin supporter from Fenit or Tallaght. White had the unstinting support
>of her husband who traversed the country to lobby councillors in her support. And she also wooed councillors with a freight load of Lir
>chocolates, sending a each councillor a sample of her wares - one councillor told Goldhawk that he received no less than three food
>parcels from the eager Seanad candidate. But Sinn Féin's 23 votes, many of which went to her either in first preferences or transfers, is
what clinched it for this unlikely Republican ally.
>
>The explanation for this cross party example of the Pan Nationalist front is that Mary White and Padraic, the former Industrial Development Authority head, have involved themselves in the Peace Process for years. Mary is prominent in the Fianna Fáil women's committee and she has organised visits of concerned, middle class
ladies to darkest Ardoyne and such down the years. Padraic, meanwhile, has busied himself networking with captains of industry
>in the North, extolling the virtues of cross border co-operation, and
>so on.
>
>But now that Mary is in the Senate, let's hope that she will rememberto file her accounts for Lir Chocolates. Failure to do so a few years
>ago led to the company being struck off (see the Phoenix
>1/12/2000)."
>
>- The Phoenix, August 2 2002