Time for change!

Do you remember the famous expression; “We’ve got to get more from less?” The hard thing about managing on less is that it forces choices on everyone. The logic of the more from less credo is about making a little go a really long way, indeed much further than you’d have thought it could go in normal times.

Those were not normal times.  One of the motions that was passed at Wexford Borough Council concerned home adaption grants.  Effectively the list couldn’t progress as the money had been used up unless there was a real life or death case.

It was grist to the political mill and some councillors and local election candidates highlighted the lack of money although rarely pointed out why there was no money and of course didn’t point out where the replacement funds could be sourced.  Any proposed tax increase was fought tooth and nail.

Now of course that the home adaptation grants are being properly funded by Labour’s Alan Kelly, there’s not a word out of those who made the loud protests on behalf of the most vulnerable.  The good news for those that need their houses altered to help them cope with their disability is that there’s over €50M available for them and of that Wexford gets €1.5M.

It can only be good and while it can never make good any disability it makes homes more liveable in.   Because when councillors said that spending less on home adaptions made disabled more dependent on family, friends and state services, they were right and nobody denied that.  Now that more cash is being targeted early on in the recovery, maybe, just maybe some of councillors that complained a few years might just say to Alan Kelly and Brendan Howlin well done on finding the resources for this.

Wexford decides. It's Yes!

The word history is often over used.  However there is something different and special about today’s count on the Marriage Equality Referendum in St Joseph’s Centre Wexford.  It’s an old hall that was built by a local priest as a community hall at about the time of the visit of John F Kennedy to Wexford.

When Kennedy ran for election as US President he was anxious to dispel the notion that as a catholic he couldn’t be president for all the people.  In US politics there is the separation of state from church on all levels.  At the same time in Ireland the Catholic church used its influence when it needed to. 

Kennedy said “believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference”

While this might have proved attractive in the US, for any Irish politician to have repeated the same sentiments this side of the Atlantic at that time would have spelt the end of their career.

Kennedy’s ancestors came from a small village called Dunganstown. As I tallied boxes on the marriage referendum today from townlands within a stones throw of the old homestead, my mind couldn’t help but ask what would JFK think today of his descendants?

It was good to see former pupils from many years ago at the count, it can only be positive for local politics.  Few of the faces tallying were there a year ago at the local elections.  Indeed how ironic it is that Eamon Gilmore, who as Labour leader pinpointed this issue 3 years ago resigned exactly a year ago on this weekend following the reversal of the local elections of which I was one of the casualties.  There is the sense today of Wexford moving on from the last lost decade.

Many of Wexford’s villages and towns have voted strongly Yes.  There are interesting trends with a stronger No vote in the south of the county from Rosslare over to Kilmore Quay where the outcome is more balanced.  Riverchapel which is the stomping ground of Labour’s Robbie Ireton was 80 : 20 Yes. Elsewhere especially in Wexford Town where boxes from Scoil Mhuire tallied at about 60:40 in favour of the Yes while Kennedy Park, named after the late president was 70% Yes.  The official result won’t be available until later today but it’s clear from Wexford that people will separate their moral views on religion from their public tolerance of difference.  That can only be positive.  For those of us that canvased against the 8^th Amendment in 1983, Thank God we’ve lived to see this day!

Clonard Post Office, the letter is in the post.

It’s been a long standing cause in Wexford to see a post office in the largest parish in the county.  Clonard doesn’t have a post office.  Year after year, An Post has been lobbied by the former Wexford Borough Council to see what could be done about providing a post office service in Wexford Town’s largest suburb.

An Post do have a substantial sorting office in Wexford at Clonard from where it sorts and distributes post around the town.  Councillors have argued that An Post should provide post office services from the sorting office in Whitemill Industrial Estate.  Such an office would provide easier access for customers to postal and banking services saving especially elderly people a long walk downhill into town, or more importantly a walk up hill home.  An Post have seen their way to providing some postal services at the office in 2016, but interestingly now some opposition to the plan is forthcoming from the Post Masters Union.

The Post Masters Union is an association of shop keepers who provide sub offices from their premises in parishes up and down the country.  18 months ago the post masters nationally signed a contract to continue providing social welfare services for the next 6 years.  This contract is seen as being vital to the viability of post offices especially those in rural areas.

The reality that the last government closed 99 post offices in their time in office and that closures since 2011 are less than 20 under the present government cuts no ice with the post masters.  They want to stall the An Post plans to extend services from sorting offices and prefer to see rural services prioritised.

But where are customers from Clonard expected to go?  There is no sub office convenient to the area.  Stalling the plan only continues the hardship to people in Clonard.  I find it hard to believe that deferring the provision of postal services from Whitemill can impact on any rural post office.  Most of their potential customers presently access services in Wexford’s main post office.

I wonder is the campaign by the post masters more about retaining the commercial profitability of their business rather than providing local post office services to their customers?   Since 2011 just one post office in County Wexford has closed.  Yet we have had scaremongering that government is going to close post offices.  In the same time convenience shopping has seen enormous change with German cost cutters growing at the expense of all other competitors.  The viability of the local shop come post office is under threat because customers are driving to where prices are considerably lower.  But the viability of many shops that don’t have a sub post office are under the exact same threat.  These businesses don’t have the crutch of the pension day payments or Christmas bonuses to boost sales.

It’s time that shop keepers who own a sub post office came out and say it and stop hiding behind unfounded fears of loss of service.  In the meantime, let’s get our sub post office in Clonard.  

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!