And they're off!

The closer we came to the end of the Christmas recess, the easier the decision to hold a General Election became. 3 weeks out from voting there’s already 16 candidates in the field in Wexford, with more likely to come.  General Elections are fundamentally different to a local election. For some parties a general election may be about representation and putting down roots that might bear fruit in the future. For others its about numbers that will count where it counts in government formation.

If Princess Diana once thought that 3 made for a crowd, one wonders what Meghan Markle’s late mother in law might have made of the line up for Wexford in the forthcoming General Election. Already over half of the candidates who ran 4 years ago have announced their candidacy once more. It is early days yet and while there has been canvassing , few issues have brought  candidates into debate with one another.

The inner turmoil in Fianna Fail has been well documented elsewhere for some time. However Fine Gael only clarified that the number of candidates it will run this week. Uncertainty is the also the order of the day in People Before Profit. Deirdre Wadding made a surprise announcement of her political return having replaced Cinnamon Blackmore who in turn had taken on the job of Dail candidate from New Ross woman Susan Breen. 3 different candidates since last September is a far cry from 2016. Fine Gael on the other hand have decided that 3 is also beyond their reach and finally decided to stick with both outgoing ministers.

And so to Enniscorthy. Right in the middle of County Wexford, Enniscorthy has benefitted from a new by-pass which has made the town easier to get through.  Enniscorthy should be on the cusp of taking off but its not. Economic uncertainty still dogs the down with traders complaining at the level of rates. A good judge of a local economy is the health of advertising. The Echo Group of  Newspapers based in the town shut over 2 years ago leaving a hole socially and economically in the town. The Slaney runs through Enniscorthy and has down through the years  traditionally seen one side of the town eye the other with suspicion.Bridging those two sides has been a job that mere mortals found tough in the past. Enniscorthy is a Fianna Fail stronghold but that's not to say its spoken with one political voice down through the years. Johnny O'Leary of Labour and Ivan Yates have represented the area in the Dáil despite Enniscorthy being much smaller than Wexford.

 The current deputies for Enniscorthy are James Browne who is the third of his family line to hold a seat and Paul Kehoe of Fine Gael who just about beat off Johnny Mythen from Sinn Fein last time round.

All 3 go again. Apart from them, Seanie O’Shea and Ger Donnoghue Renua  have strong roots in the Enniscorthy district and may expect to poll well but for Renua it may well be the last throw of the dice. Aontú competes with it for the same socially conservative vote. The lost of these votes from Sinn Fein has reduced Johnny Mythen’s chances of a seat. Indeed Mythen losing his own council seat at the local election was one of the major shocks last year. Mythen is a popular and well regarded man in Enniscorthy who if he had been in any other party would have made more political progress. 

But  Browne is a banker for FF, quietly plodding away regardless on constituency work.

I don’t see Johnny Mythen pushing Paul Kehoe as close this time, Kehoe’s threat is from Verona Murphy has he also secures a lot of votes in South Wexford, votes that Ms Murphy thinks may be hers for the taking with her right wing speil.

Enniscorthy will elect one TD at least, my heart tells me it will elect two but its too early to be certain of that. If there is a shock in Wexford it may well be in the north of the county where it is to be detected.