Anthony McIntyre ☠ Today Catherine Connolly is officially President of Ireland.
When she first announced her candidacy, I thought it good to have a Left dog in the fight even if I was far from confident that the fight could be won. What boosted her chances somewhat was getting in before Sinn Fein. It seems very plausible to believe that this is an election that Sinn Fein could have won had they sprang out of the traps early enough with a candidate that could attract rather than repel voters.
Sinn Fein's decision not just to endorse Catherine Connolly but to put teams on the street to row in behind her put even more wind in her sails, which acquired turbo power when when Fianna Fail's Jim Gavin pulled out over something relatively minor compared to what the kingmaker in the current government coalition has been responsible for.
Much better in terms of conveying her message than her sole opponent, Heather Humphreys, Catherine Connolly no longer faced the risk of mutual backslapping transfers between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael squeezing her into second place in a winner takes all competition. As the days passed fewer dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Those that did seemed more like smoke signals coming out of the Fine Gael camp, signifying Blueshirt desperation rather than any real change in the weather. Nobody seriously expected rain to fall from those type of clouds to deter voters from turning up on the day.
As that day approached, the smell of defeat from the Fine Gael camp was hard to mask with perfumed pontificating. Smear the bejaysus out of her drew more attention to the author of that comment than to its intended target. As an attack dog, Heather Humphreys was more sheep than wolf, unable to effectively throw the snowballs that the Fine Gael slurry and slime department was manufacturing for her.
For almost every day of October up until the night before the election - which saw us pound the streets of Clogher Head as part of the Drogheda For Connolly campaign team - I took to the canvass trail, usually alongside Bobby McCormack. Some times we did it, just the two of us. On others we were joined by an array of campaigners. Sinn Fein and People Before Profit activists turned out alongside individuals who belonged to no political party. There was a sense of unity and purpose with one goal in mind - putting Catherine Connolly in the Aras. When we bickered it was over what estate to hit on which night; whether we should door knock or post leaflets. Nothing of substance which was refreshing for the Left, so often drawn to a split like a moth to a flame.
The campaign saw us rap the doors and ring the bells of estates across Drogheda, Dundalk, Ardee, Termonfeckin and Clogher Head. My daughter joined me in Ardee and Dundalk. The response was very positive. A bit of dismissiveness here and there but no abuse other than from one religiously deranged John the Baptist lookalike in West Street who vigorously objected to me and Ciara distributing leaflets 'outside God's house.' Ireland has changed, he insisted, over the past two decades. When I suggested the change was that priests could no longer rape children and avoid being held to account, the neurons in his brain began sparking causing a dark anger to take hold of his facial expression. When he ended up giving me the middle finger I told him I had one too which I planned donating to religion once I died. Off he went in a tailspin up West Street muttering obscurantist incantations laced with threats of hell and other things his loving god likes to do to people that don't share his superstitions. Other than that, people, even if they were not for voting Catherine Connolly, displayed no signs of insanity or menacing hostility.
The one disappointment throughout the month of canvassing was the palpable absence of the Irish Labour Party from the campaign trail. Apart from local Louth TD Ged Nash joining us on the canvass in Dundalk, the party was more noted for its absence. There was a sense that it was more in line with the Alan Kelly perspective which preferred to see Heather Humphreys elected president. That seems to be the result of the Fine Gael ideational culture permeating throughout the Labour Party. For decades Labour has unashamedly and slavishly functioned as a condom to be worn by Fine Gael while it screwed society's most disadvantaged, affording it protection from the wrath of its victims. When finished, the condom rather than the tool it shielded has always taken the flak.
Although revolutionaries promise speedy change, real progress in the world of politics is characteristically slow. Every advance is painstakingly fought for. Once any ground is taken it has to be fortified to a strength capable of taking the weight of the launch pad that will propel the next surge forward. Ireland now has a president in the mould of Michael D Higgins, prepared to speak out of the left side of her mouth rather than both sides at the same time and who will incrementally move the needle leftwards.
Having learning from RTE news last night that in some cases children with mental health challenges in Ireland have to wait thirteen years before seeing a primary care psychologist, the idea that this country needed a Fine Gael President is unthinkable. If people do what they have always done they will get what they always got.
Welcome to another President with a social conscience.
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