Kerry kicks out former party leader and replaces him with former gun-runner

The world may look at the Kerry North constituency and be aghast that its voters have turfed out an internationally known politician and replaced him with an IRA gun-runner.

One of its three seats has been won by Sinn Fein's Martin Ferris, who is reputedly on the IRA army council. He was arrested on board a trawler carrying seven tons of guns in 1984; recently he was questioned by police about an assault on an alleged drug-dealer.

The seat he won had been held by Dick Spring, the former leader of the Irish Labour Party who, as foreign minister, became one of Ireland's best-known politicians.

On the face of it, the result seems a lurch away from democratic politics towards militant republicanism, yet within Irish politics it is not being viewed like that at all. No one thinks the men of Kerry are about to rise and march north to take on the British Army.

This is because all politics is local and Kerry North is more local than most. In the electorate, the view is that Mr Ferris got in because he is the man who gets things done. That does not mean gun-running; it means much more mundane business in connection with health, housing and roads.

By common consent he has been an assiduous local councillor and constituency worker, painstakingly building up a formidable Sinn Fein machine that has delivered on local issues. This was why he topped the poll on the first count.

Dick Spring, by contrast, deliberated for some time before deciding he would run again, exuding a certain sense of hesitancy which did not go down well in the constituency. The Spring political dynasty goes back a long way, but voters are interested in the here and now.

At the same time the biggest party, Fianna Fail, put up two candidates who did not get on with each other and fought separate campaigns. Dan Kiely was the choice of the party leadership in Dublin, while Tom McEllistrim fought a highly individualistic campaign, even declining to return phone calls from party headquarters.

To everyone's surprise, Mr McEllistrim was elected, overturning expectations about how voting transfers would go. He, Mr Spring and Jimmy Deenihan of Fine Gael all polled well, each taking between 20 and 22 per cent of first preferences.

But Mr Ferris outstripped them to top the poll, in effect taking Mr Spring's former seat. It is obviously the case that his shady past failed to deter his voters, but it is also certainly true that without the sheer slog of constituency work he would not have been elected.

This was the case in all the constituencies where Sinn Fein candidates have been newly elected: their republicanism may or may not have helped, but without years of spadework they would not have made their breakthrough.