Jim Walsh is no April Fool!

My jaw dropped when I read the remarks made by Fianna Fail Senator Jim Walsh.  Firstly let’s correct the suggestion that Jim has resigned from Fianna Fail.  He hasn’t. He still has his cumann card and he very much holds sway in New Ross within Fianna Fail circles.  He would never surrender his power base in that district to rival factions within that party.  He merely has resigned from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party and surrendered the whip.

Senator Walsh quotes someone he met who happens to be gay.  This person thinks that the cost of holding the marriage referendum would be better spent on providing a free HIV test for those who are gay.   Senator Walsh was keen to share this piece of wisdom in the Séanad adding that the cost of the referenda is €21M.  Senator Walsh seems to have forgotten that May 22^nd sees 2 referenda being held and that regardless as to whether the Marriage Equality vote proceeds or not, there are fixed costs involved in running polling on any day. 

But saving money wasn’t uppermost in Senator Walsh’s mind, nor indeed any interest he may have preventing the spread in HIV.  Central to Senator Walsh’s speech is an ignorance of HIV and homophobia.    It’s true that gay people can contract HIV. It’s also true that straight people can contract HIV.  New Ross is the ancestral to the Kennedy Clan.  A relative of the Kennedy’s who is a priest many years caused outrage in Dungarvan by warning from the pulpit about an “angel of death” spreading HIV as an act of revenge on the male population of West Waterford. 

Senator Walsh singles out gay men as a source of HIV.  Why stop with gay men? There are many other sectors at risk from HIV.    So if only he could tell us what the state would you do when it’s found out the result of the test?  Senator Walsh’s politics would be at home in the world that Brindlsey McNamara portrayed in “The Valley of the Squinting Windows”. 

The subtext to all this is Senator Walsh’s homophobic views.  He opposes Marriage Equality and that is the nub of his outburst.  In the past he complained that he couldn’t call gay people “fairies”. He has opposed the Children and Family Relationships Bill citing Marriage Equality as a reason.  Senator Walsh is taking advantage of the low morale in Fianna Fail and the ineffective leadership of Micháel Martin but send the subtle but clear signal to Fianna Fail voters that at heart Fianna Fail Oireachtas members reflect the old conservative ways.  There’s a certain segment of FF voters who support Jim Walsh’s view.  He is not politically on his own.  Make no mistake about that.  At least he’s said what more than a few FF people are clearly thinking.  FF are the biggest party on Wexford County Council.  Yet no councillor turned up on Sunday last for the launch of the Wexford Marriage Equality Vote Yes campaign.

With 2 months to go to polling, there’s every sign that the Marriage Equality Referendum will be a tough battle in Ireland, but nowhere as tough as in Wexford.    

Nothing to see here

On any one morning a rumour can be half way round the world before the truth is out of bed.  Once a rumour starts, it can develop into fact. That’s the unpalatable truth about reality.  Sometimes we think that if we ignore the rumour it goes away and we don’t have to confront it.  How wrong we can sometimes be.

At the end of last week there were a series of rumours that a well known character in Wexford town had died.    While the individual was ill and hospitalised, the person was not dead and indeed was undergoing  treatment for their condition.

A person’s illness is their private business and not anyone else’s regardless of how connected a person might be.  Yet on Friday afternoon, I turned on my mobile to receive messages enquiring as to whether this person had died.  The rumours had been rife on facebook and social media.  In one case I saw questions on twitter seeking clarification of the rumours from a media source.  Today 5 days on, I’m still being asked.

The Irish modified Social Media to become a modern day valley of the squinting windows 2.0.  Can we not grow up?  In future it might be easier to go up and visit the individual in their ward rather than feed the rumour mill.

With a wind at your back you can govern in the sunshine

You’ve got to be brave to start a new party.  It’s no easy task these days.  To start one on the Friday 13^th and within days of the Ides of March and an eclipse suggests that you’re not superstitious.  We’re told over 100 professionals have volunteered their services to Renua Ireland.  We’re told that they have identified the famous gap in the market which Michael McDowell suggests needs to justify   any new parties existence.

So where is the patch for the new party? Clearly it’s to the right of Fine Gael. Renua Ireland are marking out political territory to attract Fine Gael voters in the same way that Trotskyites are targeting Labour voters.  So the strong pro life stance and the need to cut public sector, prioritise the interest of entrepreneurs, cutting tax forms the back bone of the new party. The only Fine Gael policy that it has yet to claim is what is euphemistically described as “being strong on law and order”.  Renua is hoping to take votes from Fine Gael at any future election. 

There is quite a queue on the independent side of the house towards forming parties.  Shane Ross and his party are building momentum in the background.  In politics timing is everything, that’s why Renua were so anxious to get going now.  All markets get filled and the sooner they set up shop the better.  The closer that we get to the General Election the more difficult it will be for any party to set out its stall clearly.

What will be interesting is to see what happens in opinion polls to the independent voting bloc.  Will those voters be attracted to support Renua?  There seems to be a cynicism towards parties in the mind of the public so it’s a little ironic that as an election looms independents are starting to form parties.

Indeed what is the value of giving independent as an answer option on any poll into the future? ULA, Socialist Party, People Before Profit etc are not independents but small parties.  These public representatives are a million miles from the notion of an independent simply representing community issues.  Perhaps Non Party is a better description of these candidates.

But let’s nail a few myths before we go further; Unlike some of the leading lights of the PD’s, none of its founding members were expelled from Fine Gael. Eddie Hobbs says he won’t be a candidate as he can’t afford to live off a TD’s salary despite the suggestion on their website that he will be.  Senator Mary O’Brien whose husband is a candidate is not a member despite their website suggesting she is.

The suggestion that no politician can serve more than 2 terms as a minister is unworkable.  What are they going to do if a party lead by a former long serving minister wins an election? Surely the people’s view is sovereign and that Deputy can lead their party into government?  And as for allowing a free vote on issues of conscience, a conscience can be an elastic thing in politics which can expand and contract at the whim of who is pulling at it.  If you have a party of strong willed individuals it can make for torrid times.

You’ve got to be brave and for their sake I hope they carve out a niche but at the back of my mind I’ve my doubts.  There is a touch of going the road with everyone and staying the course with none. 

What happens when a politician owns up?

Gone but not forgotten.  But maybe it’s just a temporary little arrangement?  Anyone who reads this weeks Wexford People would be forgiven for thinking that I’ve been swallowed up and disappeared.  At least Cllr Davy Hynes seems to think that and it seems he’s feeling sorry for me.  Speaking to a local paper he complains that Brendan Howlin says that he got it wrong on the abolition of Town councils and he says Brendan’s position sticks in his craw and that it’s no comfort for those who ran (like myself) and lost their seats.

Davy considers himself lucky to survive the treachery of town council abolition and that town councillors were thrown to the wolves! I got over my election defeat within hours of the count.  Having come out the wrong side of the final count in the wee small hours, I was back in class at 9 AM.  I’m well over it however it seems Davy isn’t coping too well with my absence from the council chamber.

When you win you’ve got to understand why, when you lose you must do the same thing.  Clearly I lost because the electorate had made their mind up about the Labour Party. That’s their right and I have to accept it.  That’s democracy.  The idea that I’d put my political career above the membership of Labour was anathema to me.  You can never be taken seriously if you run with the political hare and hunt with the hounds.  Leaving and running under any other banner? I would have been seen as an opportunist and failing to account,  Politics is not about popularity although a councillor loves to be loved.  Politics is about what you can do for the community you serve.  That’s what it’s always been for me. It’s never been about ego and press coverage.  In essence it’s about ideas and people.

All that has changed for me is the reality that I don’t attend council meetings and don’t get a representational allowance.  I still make representations to the council on behalf of constituents and the officials are happy to work with me. I still am a member of a number of boards for which I’ve never have received expenses, I’ve been part of a group to set up a Neighbourhood Watch and my representations still carry clout with the Garda as a recent raid on a premises at Wexford’s South End proves.  Within days of losing I was offered a weekly column in a local free paper, Co Wexford Reporter.  I enjoy filing that each week, it provides another outlet to express my views, often on subjects that are outside the remit of a council. Politics is not all the time having a mandate, it’s about wanting to contribute.  No election result can change that.

Facing the electorate is not being thrown to the wolves.  As one council wag once noted, “If there was a public demonstration to retain the Borough Council, you’d only expect 12 to turn up to protest, and even then you wouldn’t rely on them all being councillors!”

There is an issue about why people in parts of Wexford town looked at the ballot paper and voted in large numbers for candidates who lived in rural areas.  If the electorate wanted urban councillors there were 7 outgoing on the ballot paper. Just 4 got re-elected in a town of 20,000. That speaks volumes more eloquently than any personalised tirade aimed at Brendan Howlin.

In the meantime I  go on!

 

A league of their own

Michael Davitt would be scratching his head if he wee still alive.  The Land League which he established in the 19^th century to protect tenant farmers is now back in business. Its first foray is to defend one of the family homes of a wealthy corporate lawyer who carved out a property empire for himself during the boom.  Or as they say themselves, they protect them all big and small. 

The suggestion that Michael Davitt would sympathise with absentee landlords during the laisez faire boom of the Victorian era is pure nonsense.  But when it comes to facts they’re in a league of their own.  Famously this group protested at an auction of distressed investment property that “Is this what Constant Markievicz died in St Stephen’s Green for in 1916”. 

There are sadly fewer busts bigger than that of the O’Donnell family.  But the suggestion that it has been as a result of government action is delusional.  The total number of quarterly repossessions has never risen over 100. Which by EU standards is quiet low.  There have been more cases where people handed back the keys than repossessions.  Irish Courts have been slow at ordering repossessions. 

Interestingly Donegal is seeing a growth in repossessions of property homes as the high Euro Sterling exchange rate encourages people to come across the border to pick up good value in holiday homes.   

Sinn Fein’s stance on this will be interesting as up north they play down their left wing credentials and are keen to see property prices pick up.  This pick up makes Southern property even better value.

At the week-end the New Land League were protesting at the Labour Party National Conference in Killarney against water charges.  They’re headed up by a former developer friend of Bertie Ahearn who was on the Fianna Fail Ard Comhairle.  It’s a fallacy that opposition to water charges is solely based on left wing opposition.  However, It’s fair to say there is little co-operation between the Land League and militant opposition.  They all share common opposition to property tax.

But to compare the O’Donnells with someone who has lost their job having been a first time buyer at the peak of the property bubble is an obscenity.  About 10 years ago as prices edged upward pay rose so that people could afford housing.  To finance this 100% mortgages were commonplace. The furnishings and second car were added in to loans that lasted for in some cases over 35 years.

But this was not what was at the core of O’Donnells problems.  It’s hard to equate their problems with someone who wanted to get their foot on the property ladder.  Investors wanted to control that ladder. They expected and felt a right to make significant returns on their investments.  This shouldn’t happen to them.  One wonders if a tenant in a property they rented was behind in payment whether they would have approved of the Land League entering in support of a tenant?

The media circus outside the property in Kiliney is mind boggling.  After all the years of property and slump, have we learnt anything? Has the media learnt anything?

Is it celebrity or representation we want?

Let’s be blunt about it. The General Election campaign is well underway.  Labour has just had a very successful conference in Killarney.   Since 1997 we’ve had just 3 elections in Ireland.  In the 18 years prior to 1997 we had 6 general elections.  Elections are the best opportunity to connect with the electorate on a large scale.  If there is a disconnect in society between the citizen and representatives, it’s because there have been less elections and politicians are getting on with the business that they are being paid for, which is politics.

General Elections now almost are on a fixed term. This may be politically convenient however I don’t think it is good for the electorate.  Issues which are resolved move off the agenda with increasing speed.  It doesn’t make for feedback.    And in the middle of all this we have the phenomena of celebrity politicians or high public profile candidates.

In Wexford the main issue in 2011 was the future of the General Hospital.  You don’t hear a word about it’s future now, that question has been resolved, principally by Labour being in office.  The long planned and long delayed improvements of the N25 and N11 are starting soon too.  Every issue moves on and with a more diverse media, it moves faster. 

Some elected representative only deals with the media and prioritise developing a profile over the needs of the electorate.   The deputies profile replaces their work rate in the mind of the electorate and becomes something that influences how someone votes.  So a public representative who is a hard constituency worker is dragged down to the level of a celebrity opponent. 

Media elevation of celebrity into achievement converts celebrity into political currency in a democracy.  Indeed can celebrity be more important to the electorate than achievement?  If it doesn't matter what way a deputy dresses, then why should the media refer to it?

Could it mean that the next election will be a fundamentally different election to anything we’ve ever had before.  The issues debated may not be the issues that voters decide on.  Many of the TD’s that might be elected may have to deal with issues for which the general public have no idea where these new deputies stand.   So as Lucinda Creighton sets out to reboot Ireland with her pop up party driven of celebrity money men, how can this make politics better for all than the some of the celebrities who were elected in 2011?  

All politics is local, so when a national poll is extrapolated back to a constituency the national trends aren’t reflected.  A diverse political landscape in a small country means that individuals that can top the poll in one part of the country, would lose a deposit elsewhere.   The make up of the next government will reflect the will of the people on election day but will politics develop in the way that people expect?  And at what stage do you need an upgrade to version 2.0 rather than simply reboot?   

 

Telling the passengers where to get off!

Margaret Thatcher used to say that the definition of failure was a man in his 30's taking a bus.  The news that Bus Eireann are planning to reduce Expressway services in Wexford shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone. Bus Eireann run a route 5 to Waterford from Dublin along the N25/N30/N80/N81.  Not the most direct route and certainly not the fastest.  But one that connects a lot of villages with big towns. The route doesn’t hit dual carriage way until it reaches Tallaght.  By comparison you can travel from Waterford to Dublin on the M9 in about 2 hours comfortably.  It’s a no brainer if you want to go from Dublin to Waterford by Bus Eireann as to which route you’d take.  Route 5 is for the axe.

Many local communities are fearful of the impact of downgrading of service and ending of dropping off points.   Bus Eireann claim that the Expressway service does not receive a subvention and as a consequence must be profitable.  As a consequence they see routes terminating at Dublin Airport and linking to big urban areas the future for their fleet investment.  Elderly passengers on bus passes don’t seem to rate with the boys in Broadstone.  They are feeling the raw heat of competition from the private sector on their neck.

It’s very hard to feel sympathy for Bus Eireann.  For years the CIE group has gone to the government with a begging bowl looking to be bailed out when in fact they could have look at how to configure services to attract passengers.  The presumption that everyone wants to go to or from Dublin is wrong.  It’s possible with great time delays to go from Bunclody to Wexford return by bus. It takes almost 2 hours unless you want to take the only direct bus that departs at 19.50 and arrives at 20.40 but few appointments in Wexford are this late!  On the other hand if you want to go from Camolin to New Ross it’ll take as long as 3 hours in the morning although about an hour later in the day.  In both cases the journey is about 30 miles.  Clearly for a service branded “Expressway” connecting passengers for destinations other than Dublin isn’t high up the agenda.

Simply by interconnecting services in Wexford passenger numbers using these services could be higher.  Simply by listening to councils, numbers could be higher too.  As a councillor I asked Bus Eireann to run a service between Wexford and Carlow.  Both big towns with 20,000 passengers each, connected by a good road with the potential to interchange bus passengers for Kilkenny.  Carlow IT has a Wexford campus with plenty of students and a market. Sadly I was wasting my time.

At least there is the potential for another operator to tender for the route.  Follow the N81 to Dublin and you come to Tallaght with its IT, Square Shopping Complex and Hospital.  There is a market heading to this side of Dublin from Co Wexford and Carlow. So why did Bus Eireann fail?

That’s for the National Transport Authority to decide.  Any change in service must get the approval of the authority.  There needs to be a business case to reduce services, the NTA will have to listen to the case put to retain the service.  In that case Bus Eireann’s suggestion that it will end the service is conjecture if Wexford County Council want to fight the decision by putting the business case to retain and interconnect the counties services.

It’ll be the first test of council’s role in economic development.