Friday, January 28, 2011

Irish General Election 2011 - The Wexford Candidates

With a General Election in Ireland due sometime before the end of February, the exact date should be announced next Tuesday (1st February). I think it's time to have a look at the various candidates who are likely to effect the outcome of the Election. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post are my personal opinions based on observations and meetings I have had with the various candidates.

To be fair, I shall go through them in reverse alphabethical order, in other words, the opposite as how they will appear on the ballot paper. If the candidate has a blog or website you can click on their name to access that page.


Senator Liam Twomey - Fine Gael Party



Elected to the Dáil in 2002 as an indpendent on a campaign mainly releating to issues in the Health Service, the Rosslare based medical doctor joined Fine Gael in 2004 and was quickly made party spokesman on health. He failed to hold on to his seat in 2007 and was appointed to the Senate.

Quiet and thoughtful, if there was a list system on operation he would almost certainly be appointed to the Dail. As things stand, I don't think he has the personality needed for the clientalist, parochial nature of Irish politics. I suspect that Fine Gael would love him to win a seat ahead of Michael D'Arcy, but this is unlikely to happen. It also looks very unliklely that Fine Gael will win three out of the five seats in Wexford so I suspect that Dr. Twomey will lose out again.

Seamus O'Brien - United Left Alliance



SIPTU shop steward who works in Wexford General Hospital, O'Brien made some waves on the Wexford political scene during the campaign to save the A&E department at Wexford General Hospital in 2010. He is a member of the Socialist Worker's Party front group the People Before Profit Alliance and is standing under the United Left Alliance banner. Seamus is a former Labor Militant member of New Ross town council.

Energetic and a sincere socialist, I suspect that this election has come too soon for Seamus who needs more time to develop a profile throughout the county. That said, the United Left Alliance is not without followers in County Wexford and hopefully Seamus can keep his deposit and build for the future.

Senator Lisa McDonald - Fianna Fail



Not yet selected but eager to run, Senator McDonald has the distinction of being the only woman on this list. This is a shame and shows how backward Wexford politics really is. It is also a terrible pity then that I can't think of anything nice to write about Lisa.

She also has the distinction of being only Wexford politician to have an entire post on this blog dedicated to her, the September 28th 2009 post Wexford's own little Sarah Palin.

An arrogant, spoilt child of privilage this solicitor (lawyer not the other thing to our American readers) embodies all the very worst aspects of the current Fianna Fail Party. I hope she runs, it will give a few good opportunities to slag her off and she will doubtless get humiliated yet again. I can't believe she is so fond of herself that she could even contemplate running when she failed twice to get elected when Fainna Fail were on a high.

No chance.

Anthony Kelly - Sinn Fein



If Sinn Fein don't get a TD elected in Wexford this year they may give up. Riding high in the polls nationally and with stability restored after recent upheavels in the party locally that saw several high profile members including three elected councillors leave the party, this could be the year Sinn Fein break through in Wexford.

Anthony is affable and well liked, he is a hard working politican with a good profile, especially in the densely populated districts around Wexford town. If he can get transfers, in particular from John Dwyer and Seamus O'Brien, Kelly stands a good chance of getting elected.

Paul Kehoe T.D - Fine Gael



Fifth on our list and to the first to actually hold a seat in Dáil Éireann, Paul is Fine Gael's star electoral performer in County Wexford. He is hugely popular with Fine Gael's traditional rural support base and well able to take votes from Fianna Fail in rural areas. Kehoe is the current Fine Gael Chief Whip and is certain to comfortably retain his seat.

Brendan Howlin T.D - Labour



What can I say? The wee man who has done it all, born to rule, named after former Labour Party leader Brendan Corish, manages to be in the opposition yet hold the cushy post of Leas-Cheann Comhairle (Deputy Chairman) of Dáil Éireann. I once heard Brendan claim to be a socialist and nearly fell over. If I had a quarter of his future pension to live on I would consider myself embarrasingly wealthy. He has drawn some of the highest levels of expenses in Dáil Éireann.

Inspired a facebook group Brendan Howlin is a Champagne Socialist, a group which studies the bare faced hypocrisy of the Labour Party leadership, who claim to be left wing or socialist even while constantly supporting right wing parties, referenda and legislation.

Howlin is deeply arrogant and utterly insincere, in other words, the perfect politician. Will almost certainly top the poll.

Danny Forde - Green Party



Bring out the Gimp! Forde staggered everyone in the local elections in 2009 when he bucked the national trend and as the Greens were getting wiped out across the country Forde gained a seat on Wexford Borough Council at the expense of the Labour Party who were making gains almost everywhere else. Just goes to show the weird nature of Wexford Town politics where the Labour Party are like Tammeney Hall.

I had one encounter with Forde. I was standing on a lonely protest in Wexford chatting with a young Shell to Sea campainger. Forde the armchair eco-warrior was driving by in a car, he pulled up and proceeded to slag off the young man, asking him, "when is the revolution going to happen?" I turned to face Forde, when he saw me his face turned a shade of pale green and he sped off without saying anything. Why? I don't know.

With the Greens, what you see is what you get. A bunch of clowns. He will probably keep his deposit on the basis that there are a lot of guilty middle class hippys in Wexford, no chance of getting elected. I look forward to seeing where his transfers go since the Monster Raving Looney Party don't usually stand in Irish elections.

John Dwyer - Independent



Former Sinn Fein county councillor and Dáil candidate, John is currently chairman of New Ross Town Council. He is a full time politician who describes himself as a left-wing liberal. He is intelligent and well known in republican and socialist circles, although he does not claim to be a socialist himself.

John could not make the breakthrough to Dáil Éireann when running for Sinn Fein and it is very unlikely that he will do it as an independent, although he will poll well around New Ross and among republicans who are disaffected with Sinn Fein. His transfers could be crucial in deciding who gets the final seat that is probably going to be contested between Labour, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein.

Michael D’Arcy T.D - Fine Gael



Michael W. D'Arcy is the son of Michael D'Arcy, a former TD and Minister of State. That is the only possible reason I can think of why he is a member of Dáil Éireann. He is utterly charmless and I can't imagine why people vote for him in their thousands. He has an advantage in-so-far as he is the only high profile candidate from the highly populated Gorey Town district. Very right wing.

If he does not dye his hair then he should because it looks like he does. Will more than likely retain his seat.

Lucky us.

Sean Connick T.D - Fianna Fail



Astonishingly, Sean is the first ever native of New Ross town to be elected as a T.D. He is Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with special responsibility for Fisheries and Forestry.

Except for the fact he is wheelchair bound he is a fairly typical Fianna Fail politician, looks after his own, business friendly, pragmatic. Should retain his seat.


Pat Cody - Labour Party



Nobody I know knows anything about this man, but Labour Party hacks think he can win a seat. All I have to say is, "there's more to being a socialist than wearing a red tie"

John Browne T.D - Fianna Fail



Wexford's longest serving T.D, yet has probably the lowest profile. I really struggled to find a decent picture of Browne online for this post. Like D'Arcy, he seems to owe his seat to the kind of nepotism that is all too common in Irish politics. From wikipedia, "His uncle Seán Browne, was also a TD, who was first elected in 1957. He retired due to ill health. As his nephew, John Browne, effectively 'inherited' his seat."

Like Connick, he looks after his own, well connected in G.A.A circles, conservative. He seemed to fall from favour when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach, lost his position as Minister of State for Fisheries.

Due to the number of strong candidates in the Enniscorthy district (he is competing with Kehoe and Cody in this area), Browne is expecting a tough battle to retain his seat, however he topped the poll last time out and has the advantage of being the first name on the ballot sheet. Should he lose his seat, few apart from his cronies will miss, or even remember him.

So that's it, the main candidates from Wexford. The election should be interesting and we could see a change from the usual two Fainna Fail, two Fine Gael, one Labour result. I hope you found something of interest in this post and if it was in any way offensive, it was probably deliberate and I will consider it a success.

Comments welcome and happy voting!

10 comments:

  1. Great Blog. Good presentation and well written. I'm not from Wexford and I found it very informing. It gives a balanced and fair opinion for the most part! Wexford needs a high profile independent candidate to try and take a seat off the established parties. (FF,FG and LAB)

    SF vote is split and ULA guy just lacks profile at this point is time. What's your prediction?
    1FF 2FG 1LAB and last seat FF/LAB/?

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  2. Anonymous, thanks for your comment,

    As things stand FG are sure to take two, Lab 1 and FF one.

    The last seat is very, very hard to call, if I were to bet I think FF will hold it, but Sinn Fein, Labour and even FG have a chance. If I get any poll data between now and the eclectin I weill post it as a comment.

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  3. This is an amazingly detailed post with superb analysis. Must return again and read it.
    You are not thinking of taking up a job as political correspondent by any chance?

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  4. John,

    Thanks for your comment. No. I don't think I would ever work as a corresponent, but I am very interested in politics and attend a lot of meetings and keep up with local events.

    I will post an update on Wednesday after all the candidates have been selected. There is a new independent candidate, Mick Wallace who could do very well. Fianna Fail have decided to only run two candidates, the sitting TDs. The Green Party have not confirmed a runner, although they are polling so badly it would make little difference to the overall result.

    Rory

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  5. excellent analysis rory. better than the fawning rubbish you find in the local rags. paxman better watch out for his job!

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  6. have to agree about darcy feckless

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  7. Thanks Graycrow for this post.

    I remember you writing about most of these people in the past.

    moonlitetwine

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  8. Wanted to tell you, I like what you have done to your blog. All the photos seem the same.

    Awesome. How did you do that?

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  9. moonlite,

    I deleted this blog and my google account, it was all getting messy, comments were going to an e-mail account i didn't use and i had a youtube account that was lionked to it that i wanted to get rid of.

    This is kind of a ghost of the blog that persists but all the photos are lost.

    I'm glad it survives as a record of some worthwhile writing and debate, but it can never be added to or changed. It is the past.

    Rory

    ReplyDelete