Burke: I never felt party were on my side
Cork MEP Colm Burke today hit out at Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny after conceding he would lose his seat in the European Parliament to Seán Kelly.
The former Lord Mayor of Cork said he never felt like the party was behind him in this campaign and that he would be expressing his dissatisfaction with Mr Kenny today.
Mr Burke received 11% of the first-preference votes behind his fellow MEP Kathy Sinnott (12%) and other candidates Toiréasa Ferris (13%) and Alan Kelly (13%).
Counting of the votes continued in Neptune Stadium today and began with the distribution of 16,250 votes from the Green Party’s Dan Boyle.
Even last night Mr Burke dismissed suggestions that he could receive a significant amount of transfers from fellow Corkman Dan Boyle.
“At this stage, I have to concede that my seat is gone and I’m obviously disappointed about that,” he said.
“I needed to be at 15% and I came in around 11%. I was right in my assessment when I saw the exit polls which are reasonably accurate.”
Asked about the Fine Gael election strategy which saw former GAA president Seán Kelly added to the line-up, Mr Burke said: “I am extremely disappointed by the decision of party headquarters and I will be openly expressing that to the party leader.
“I certainly didn’t get any indication that they were on my side,” a clearly annoyed Mr Burke said.
Mr Burke has been an MEP for the past two years. He took over the seat from Simon Coveney when he was elected to the Dáil in 2007. Despite conceding defeat, he said he was proud of the number of votes he received.
“At the end of the day, the electorate have had their say. I am thankful to the 53,000 people who voted for me,” he said, noting that Fine Gael had doubled their European vote over the past 10 years.
Asked about his future Mr Burke, who runs a legal practice on Washington Street, said he would take a long earned rest and consider his options.
Despite the loss of Mr Burke, Fine Gael looks certain to retain a seat in the European Parliament with Seán Kelly this morning well on course to take the second seat after Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley.
Enda Kenny denied the party cost Mr Burke his seat by putting a high profile candidate against him and by giving Mr Kelly more support.
“As leader of this party I’ve been absolutely scrupulously fair to every candidate at town council, county council, by-election and Euro elections,” said Kenny, who is tabling a motion of no confidence in the Government in the Dáil tomorrow.
“Obviously the decision at the end of the day belongs to the people and they made their judgment here.
“Colm Burke was an outstanding MEP on the committees that he worked on and obviously while it’s a disappointment to me that we haven’t got the two seats here, I’m quite sure when the dust settles down here we will find a position for Colm Burke where his experience and his commitment can still be a benefit to the party.”
Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.
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