No such thing as bad publicity as Emma Kiernan story spreads quickly
As befits a story that began on the internet, the story of Fine Gael local election candidate Emma Kiernan has spread live wildfire across the world wide web.
A photograph taken at the 30th birthday party of friend of Ms. Kiernan's featuring the candidate and two of her friends in a playful but sexually suggestive pose had been posted on the Facebook profile of a friend of hers.
Last Monday it was brought to the attention of members of the media and discussions began about it on discussion boards such as politics.ie
When contacted by the Leinster Leader, Ms. Kiernan said she hadn't been aware that the picture was posted online and that her friend had removed it once she became aware of it. While expressing surprise in the interest that it had generated, she apologised to anyone who may have been offended by it.
As the woman at the centre of the story shut off public access to her Facebook site, another Facebook site sprung up, called 'Vote for Emma Kiernan' and in the space of 48 hours has attracted more than 430 members, joining at a rate of one every few minutes.
Most of the members are male and most are Irish, although there are quite a few from all over the world.
Numerous comments have been left on the site, all of which are supportive of the young candidate.
The story has also been picked up by media outlets at home and abroad. Most of the national newspapers in Ireland have picked it and it's been featured on the BBC and numerous websites elsewhere, especially on sites that pick up quirky stories from all over the world, such as bizarrenews.com and on sites that specialise in politically oriented stories.
And it's been the subject of a chain email – an email that is forwarded from person to person, and can spread very quickly across the globe.
Informally and anecdotally, the Leinster Leader understands that reaction on the ground in Newbridge has also by and large been positive.
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Weather for Naas, Ireland
Thursday 17 May 2012
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