Keaveney and MacLochlainn react to loss 26.05.07

Inishowen's two most prominent politicians, Cecilia Keaveney and Padraig MacLochlainn, are contemplating their political futures today following their respective defeats in the General Election 2007. Keaveney arguably loses most, however, after yesterday's cliffhanger count. A Dail deputy for nearly eleven years, the 38-year old Moville woman's identity has become inextricably linked with her powerful position as a Government backbencher and chairperson of two Oireachtas committees. She was clearly struggling to come to terms with her political demise in the early hours of this morning.
	"I've given eleven years of hard work to this job. I've done 55 days of canvassing and called to 10,000 houses. "I did my best. My last day off was Easter Sunday. But looking at it now, I know that there is nothing that I could have done that I didn't do. "People on the doorsteps were thinking 'she's ok, she's safe' but now they will realise she wasn't safe at all. There were also some reports in the media suggesting we could
return two TDs to Inishowen, when that wasn't the case at all. "Until you get those votes in the box, you're not safe." She said her defeat was harder to take given the strong performance of her party nationally. "When you see Fianna Fail doing so well around the country, it's an even bigger kick in the backside when you know you're not going to be there too." She paid glowing tributes to the "hard work and dedication" of her two assistants, Paula and Karen, in her Moville office, who now lose their jobs. She added: "About 13,000 people used our office in Moville. If even half of them had voted for us, we would have been fine." It is not out of the question that Bertie Ahern, as Taoiseach, may see fit to reward Keaveney's long-standing loyalty with a senatorship. On that, she merely said: "God works in mysterious ways and where one door shuts another might open." In the meantime, she may also be considering a return to her former career as a music teacher.

Meanwhile, Buncrana man, Padraig MacLochlainn was philosophical about his failure to win a seat on his second General Election outing. "Of course it's a huge disappointment and five years is a long time to wait, but I'm still a councillor on both Donegal County Council and Buncrana Town Council and I will continue to work as hard as ever in those roles. "Sinn Fein fought a very good campaign in both Donegal
North East and Donegal South West but obviously we still have a lot of work to do here and nationally." He said General Election 2007 turned into a "presidential campaign" for the two biggest parties which ultimately had knock-on effects for all the other contenders. "It turned into a presidential campaign between the two bigger parties which essentially meant that the smaller parties got squeezed out," said the 34-year old.
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