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.   

Echo of the Sunday Tribune

Local media is something that is fundamental to a functioning and transparent community. So when a local paper closes, the scope to interact with a community is lost.  A free and fair media is central to any society.  One less newspaper means one less perspective on life.  I miss the Sunday Tribune and The Irish Press. Their demise didn’t mean that readership of continuing titles increased. A newspaper says something about it’s readers, it’s a badge and you can tell a lot about a community by the titles they read.

But the loss of a paper takes something away from a community. So when the Wexford Echo suddenly closed it is easy to see why there is a sense of loss in Co Wexford. There was no warning, the termination in publishing was fast and rapid. The Echo group publishes 4 titles, one in each of the 4 districts in the county.  The paper was strong on local sport and the arts. As recently as 5 years ago the echo won a national award as the regional newspaper of the year. The paper has been a breeding ground for many journalists who went on to bigger and better things on the national stage.  So how can this happen?

The mainstay of the group was the Enniscorthy Echo which was the dominant title in what was for a long time Co Wexford’s second town.  Enniscorthy’s economy has been in decline for sometime. Shops are closing and the main street has seen footfall decrease.  Where were Enniscorthy’s political representatives down through the years when all this was going on? Enniscorthy is now reaping a bitter harvest of political neglect by Fianna Fail for decades.  Less business in the town means less ads. Advertising is crucial to any newspaper. Readership is important too but freesheets prove that cover price is not absolutely essential to the mix.

Newspaper readership is in decline as punters look to online and more immediate sources for their news. Put the 2 factors together and you get the picture of what has been going on in the background. The group was sold by a local family to the Examiner group from Cork in the early part of the decade in a multi-million deal.  

It’s over 2 weeks since the paper shut up shop. There were early indications that another buyer may be interested in purchasing the 4 titles within the county and to re-launch the publications.  Where that suggestion is at the minute is top secret.

While there are hopes to revive the titles, it is certain that any return will be under a different cost structure.  It will remain to be seen as to how a revived Echo newspaper group can be put together working on the new  business realities in the media. I’ll declare an interest. I write a column for a freesheet which is owned by the rival stable the People Group Newspapers.  But I believe there is room there for 2 groups in Co Wexford.  

In the round newspapers are fair to all involved in politics. If a politician feels hard done by one week, they do balance it in time.  I’ve found the journalists I’ve dealt with down through the years to be honest, hard working and well briefed with often a good sense of humour thrown in!  A newspaper gives all its readers one singular set of facts that readers can either accept or reject communally. At a time of fake news and instant spin this commodity is becoming rare.
Fingers crossed the group can be revived for them and their reader's sake.