Cyprian Brady
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Cyprian Brady (Irish: Cyprian Ó Bradaigh; born 26 June 1962) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. Since 2007 he has been a Teachta Dála (TD) representing the Dublin Central constituency.[1]
[edit] Political career
Brady is a former civil servant who for 20 years, ran the constituency office of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.[2][3] In 2002 Brady was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, as a member of the 22nd Seanad Éireann.
[edit] 2007 general election
In late 2005, Brady and his brother Royston, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin and unsuccessful candidate for the European Parliament, were both reported to be in contention for a Fianna Fáil nomination in the Dublin Central constituency, where Fianna Fáil TD Dermot Fitzpatrick had been elected in 2002 with a margin of just 79 votes over the Sinn Féin candidate Nicky Kehoe. The rivalry led to a public call from a third brother, Fulton Brady, to "put an end to it".[4] Royston was not one of the four constenders nominated for at the selection conference in March 2006,[5] when Cyprian Brady and Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick were selected as Ahern's two running-mates. Fitzpatrick was the daughter of the outgoing TD Dermot Fitzpatrick.[6]
At the 2007 general election, held under Ireland' single transferable vote system, Brady polled just 939 first preference votes (2.7%) in the first count. However he was elected on the forth count, due in large part to transfers from his running mate, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern,[7] and became the first TD ever to be elected with less than 1,000 first-preference votes.[8]
His election became the subject of a public controversy, covered in national newspapers[9][10] and on the RTÉ Radio 1 news programme Drivetime and on the weekly Documentary on One which had been covering the campaigns of the three female candidates in the constituency.[3]
Mary Fitzpatrick, who was the third Fianna Fáil candidate in the 4-seat constituency, had received 1,725 first-preference votes, but whereas Brady 2,403 of Ahern's suplus votes were transferred to Brady, only 1,362 went to Fitzpatrick.[7] On the night before polling day, 24 May 2007, Fitzpatrick distributed leaflets to households asking people to vote for her as their first preference. In the early hours of the following morning, a letter had been hand-delivered from Ahern's office to 30,000 voters in the constituency, urging them give their first preference to the Taoiseach and their second to Brady.[9]
Since Ahern was expected to be elected with a large surplus, and the overall Fianna Fáil vote was likely to be large enough to elect two candidates, the destination of the Taoiseach's transfers would determine whether Brady or Fitzpatrick won the second Fianna Fáil seat in Dublin Central.
After Ahern's transfers secured Brady's election, Fitzpatrick complained that "I didn't think they'd go out to completely undermine me and shaft me."[11]
Ahern's election agent Chris Wall blamed Fitzpatrick, saying "She was asked not to do this sort of thing. Having then done it, she therefore effectively set in train a motion she wasn't going to be able to stop."[11]
Brady said "An election is an election and not everybody can win", adding "Mary is a colleague of mine and she is a very good councillor. It's not really fair for Mary to be blaming anybody".[9]
[edit] References
- ^ "Mr. Cyprian Brady", Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Eilish O'Regan. "Taoiseach has back-up team of high-earning personal advisers", The Irish Independent, 15 March 2001. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ a b Bernice Harrison. "With running mate like these…", The Irish Times, 2 June 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Caroline Crawford. "Warring Brady brothers urged to mend fences", The Sunday Independent, 4 December 2005. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ "Three vie to run for FF with Ahern", The Irish Independent, 4 March 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Liam Collins. "Ahern gets running mates", The Sunday Independent, 5 March 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ a b General Election, 24 May 2007: Dublin Central. ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ John Drennan. "It's a miracle! Bertie raises Cyprian from political tomb", The Independent, 27 May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ a b c Ronan McGreevy. "Taoiseach's running mate accuses FF of 'shafting' her", The Irish Times, 31 May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ Colm Kelpie. "Beaten FF candidate hits out at party 'sabotage' of campaign", The Irish Independent, 31 May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
- ^ a b "FF candidate says she was sabotaged", The Irish Times, 30 May 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-16.
| Oireachtas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dermot Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fáil) |
Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for Dublin Central 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
