'Politics is changing': FF strategist

Despite a devastating drop in the Fianna Fail vote from a massive 51 per cent in 2007, to just short of 19 per cent, FF Meath West director of elections Michael Thompson vowed that the party would be back again. Admitting that he was very disappointed with the result, he said the party would regroup in Meath West and come back again, 100 per cent. "I'm very disappointed. We had two very good candidates. I am extremely disappointed for Johnny Brady who gave 37 years of service to the county and knocked on every door in his area whenever there was an election. "I am also disappointed for Shane Cassells, who is a young and very talented politician, who was up against it with so many candidates in Navan," he said. He added that, at the end of the day, they hadn't enough votes for a seat. However, vote management was good and 60 per cent of Shane Cassells's vote had transferred to Johnny Brady. Mr Thompson said that, earlier in the campaign, he had expected that Fianna Fail in Meath would be ahead of the national average, but this was only marginally the case. "Politics is changing. People are no longer voting the way their parents voted. It now seems to be all about what is happening in the towns," he went on. He thanked everyone who had been involved in the Fianna Fail campaign and promised the party would be back next time.