NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      DUBLIN (CWNews.com) - Former pop singer and Catholic pro-life activist Dana Rosemary Scallon was elected to the European Parliament on Monday, representing a western region of Ireland.

      Dana -- who goes by only her first name as an entertainer and had won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1970 -- was elected in the Connacht Ulster constituency in a closely-fought race with another independent candidate. In a result that stunned political commentators, she beat several candidates from the main political parties.

      Dana had earlier run as an independent candidate in Ireland's presidential election in 1997. Her pro-life platform won her cross-party support, but the election was won by Professor Mary McAleese, who had the support of Ireland's Fianna Fail government.

      The singer said she was astonished and delighted by her victory and she believed it sent a clear message to the politicians. She said it showed that one didn't have to belong to a big, well-greased political party to get elected. She added that her victory was a victory for the people, and she intended to be a strong, loud voice for the people of the West of Ireland in Europe.

      After the result, which was greeted with wild scenes at the count center in Bundoran, County Donegal, the 45-year-old mother-of-three confirmed that she and her family would be moving from their current base in Birmingham, Alabama, where she hosts a television show on the Eternal Word Television Network. She said: "You could live in any one of the counties around here. They're absolutely beautiful. But our priorities will be travel and, of course, schools for our children."

      Earlier, another Irish Euro candidate accused Dana of being "only a political tourist." Dana responded, "If that's so, I've had my passport stamped firmly in this election."

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