Things are getting curiouser and curiouser

The latest candidate to declare for the election is John Dwyer.  A veteran who has been in and out of Sinn Fein and lately Éirigí is now running as an independent.  John points to the absence of a local candidate in New Ross town as his main reason for running. By all accounts Éirigí are not completely behind John on this as some Éirigí members are helping the Wallace campaign thence the independent tag.  Wallace recently offered to lodge bail for a republican on remand in prison facing serious charges.  Presumably he is regarded by Éirigí who are happy to see Wallace prosper at Sinn Fein’s expense in Wexford.  Wallace is a shoe in and the only question is how big his surplus will be.  This suits many parties since it reduces the vote that is available for other independents and Sinn Fein on all counts in the election.

Elsewhere former Labour Mayor and Democratic Left man Davy Hynes has stepped in to fill Padge Reck’s shoes in Mayor Ger Carthy’s camp. A fine picture is going viral online of Hynes signing Carthy’s nomination papers at County Hall.  Fianna Fail threw the kitchen sink at Carthy’s local election campaign bringing in troops to help Carthy triumph 2 years ago.  Padge Reck paid back the Carthy family for his close and long friendship with Ger’s late father Leo by endorsing Ger to voters. 

However Padge is politically joined at the hip to the Browne camp and is supporting James Browne in his bid to replace his own father.  A political endorsement in Wexford town would be of enormous advantage to any outside candidate hoping to win.  In 2014, Ger Carthy won significant support in the town in areas he barely recognises due to an endorsement among Reck supporters. The absence of a political endorsement in Wexford town for Carthy has been solved by Davy Hynes.  Although who’d have thought that it’d ever come to this that a serving Mayor of Wexford as a candidate in a General Election would actually need an endorsement in Wexford town from a past Mayor?  We live in interesting times!

This endorsement may raise more than a few political eyebrows in Wexford politics as Davy had spent a considerable amount of time campaigning against Water charges, property tax, USC, Susi etc alongside Deirdre Wadding and more recently working as part of “Friends of Its Good to talk” Chairperson alongside Social Democrat Candidate Leonard Kelly.  Supporting one of that pair may have been a more logical fit for someone whose dislike of Labour has grown since he left over 4 years ago.

Carthy on the other hand commits to little of national relevance in his campaign, preferring to focus instead on local issues.  A general election is about national issues.  It is enormously ironic that the councillor who most used his local council to oppose national issues now sees the Dail as a national forum to resolve mere local concerns.  Further support by Mary Farrell in Kilmuckridge will further cement the Carthy campaign and Hynes’ standing among Fianna Fail gene pool independents.  The Bromance between Carthy and the Wexford Chronicle took another step along the yellow brick road with a 4 page wrap around highlighting the Mayor’s work in this week’s issue.

However there is no place in politics for sentiment.  In his personal message to voters, Mayor Carthy effectively throws his new found comrade in arms Cllr Hynes under a political bus when he promises to offer “an alternative to the populist and in many respects irresponsible policies of those who are on the far left of Irish and Wexford politics.  Few councillors fit that description better than Davy Hynes.

Elsewhere if you need further evidence of economic pick up and more disposable income, look no further than Deirdre Wadding’s facebook page where the good news is that her online appeal for a €5K war chest to run as a People Before Profit Anti Austerity Alliance candidate has turned up the readies.

Nominations will close by the end of the week and we’ll have a full line up of candidates soon.