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!

The MV Kerlogue, Wexford 's Great Unsung Heroine

THEY SERVED NEITHER KING NOR FUEHRER BUT HUMANITY

The 29th of December 2010 was the 67th anniversary of a rescue that has gone down in Irish Maritime History, for it was on that date in 1943 that Wexford's little coaster “KERLOGE” hauled 168 injured and shipwrecked German sailors from the icy waters of the Bay of Biscay . It was a choppy, dirty trip, as the “KERLOGE” sailed towards Ireland from Lisbon. Tom O'Neill who was a young A.B. had just turned in after the four to eight watch. He had barely gone asleep when the captain Tom Donohue, a Dungarvan man shouted in the door "Get up boys, it's the Germans". All hands tumbled out of their bunks as fast as they possibly could and ran up on deck to see a German warplane approaching the ship. The swooped towards them but instead of strafing them with cannon fire as was feared the plane signalled them and dropped flares away to the starboard bow of the coaster. They could hear no gunfire but aware of the possibility that they were heading into a war zone the captain changed course, northeast towards the flares. When the coaster reached the area lit up by the flares they were astonished to find the sea all around them covered by men, hundreds of them, clinging desperately to life rafts in very rough seas.
Three days earlier, a German flotilla of ten ships, including three destroyers, had sailed from Brest to meet with a merchant ship from Japan with a cargo of materials vital to the German war effort. As they waited to rendezvous with the blockade-runner two Royal Navy Cruisers, "H.M.S Enterprise" and "H.M.S.Glasgow" who were also out searching for the merchant ship. (Which was sunk on the 27th by a Royal Air force plane) appeared on the horizon.

Commander Joachim Quendenfeldt of the destroyer T26 order his men to open fire, despite knowing that he and the other destroyers were out gunned and would not even reach the British cruisers at that distance. Within minutes the battle was over. Both of T26s engines were out and a shell had hit the bridge, meanwhile the other two German destroyers had been sunk. Quendenfeldt had no choice but to abandon ship. Two boats were lowered, although one of them capsized, and 12 life rafts were thrown overboard. T26 then went down. By now there were upwards of 500 men, burned, shot, or wounded by shellfire, struggling to hold on to whatever was available. The remaining lifeboat picked up as many wounded as she could carry. As darkness fell British planes flew over and dropped life rafts and flares to aid the struggling sailors. (The cruisers had sped away to avoid prowling U-boats.)

That was the sight met by the "KERLOGUE" when she arrived on the scene, except that by the time of her arrival there were just about three hundred German sailors left in the water. The "KERLOGUE" crew immediately began to haul the sailors aboard. They stood in the scuppers from mid-ships to aft and using grappling hooks and their bare hands hauled them in. There was still a heavy sea running and the "KERLOGUE” was rolling heavily. As the ship dipped they grabbed on to a body and hauled them in as she rose. It was long backbreaking and heartbreaking work. Many of the men hauled aboard were found to be dead and had to be slipped back into the sea to be replaced by others. And that's how it went on, for ten hours! The rescued were tended to by Capt. Donohue and Engineer Gary Roche and made as comfortable as possible. They packed the German sailors in wherever they could. Fourteen on the eleven-foot long bridge, giving helmsman Tom Grannell very little space to manoeuvre his ship among the floating bodies. Fifty-seven in the engine room, so many that the engineers were unable to move to tend the engines. They had to make signs to some of the able bodied Germans, who then carried out the procedures. All alleyways, stores etc. were filled to capacity. Then, after ten hours Capt. Donohue had to call out "No More!" The ship was packed tight; it was impossible to get any more aboard her. The "KERLOGUE" turned away to the north, leaving half of the men still in the water, facing certain death. A head count later revealed that there were 168 German sailors onboard the “KERLOGUE”!

The crew of the Wexford ship were all totally soaked to the skin! All their spare clothes had been given to the rescued and in a very short time all the ship's stores had been used up. As luck would have it, she was carrying a cargo of oranges, Capt. Donohue ordered that it be broken open and the crew made hot orange drinks for the Germans. This was all they had to sustain them until they arrived in Cork. To avoid being spotted by passing Allied planes, all of the Germans were kept out of sight, below decks during daylight hours, only coming up for fresh air at night. On the first day one of the badly burned Germans died and after a short service his body was committed to the sea. Two days later, on New Years Day one more died and that night another passed away. By now they were close to Cobh so it was decided to bring the bodies ashore. At Cobh the "KERLOGUE” was met by the emergency services, who treated the injured before they were hospitalised. Once they were declared fit they were transferred to the Curragh Internment Camp for the duration of the war.
And that was how Wexford's little "KERLOGUE” and her crew wrote their own chapter in Irish Maritime History.
At the time rumours sprang up that the Germans had attempted to take over the “KERLOGUE", they could easily have done so with their superior manpower, but this was strongly denied by Captain Donohue. It has also been said that thereafter whenever German warplanes came across the "KERLOGUE” on passage they swooped on her, dipped their wings in thanks and flew off. The crew of the "KERLOGUE" on that famous occasion were, Captain, Tom Donohue, of Dungarvan, Chief Officer Denis Valencie, of Dublin 2nd Officer Patrick Whelan, of Wexford. Chief Engineer Roy Giggins, of London , 2nd Engineer, Joseph Donahue 3rd Engineer Gary Roche, both of Wexford. Bosun, John "Chum" Roche and A.Bs Tom Grannell, Dick Roche and Tom O'Neill, all from Wexford town.
Tom O'Neill is the last surviving member of that crew and lives in Bemadette Place in Wexford Town. He has visited Germany on many occasions as an honoured guest of some of the men rescued by the "KERLOGUE". The last time he was there was to attend the launch of a yacht, owned by one of his hosts. She was named "KERLOGUE"!!

MV KERLOGUE, other WW2 incidents.
The “KERLOGUE” belonged to the Wexford Steamship Company based in the town of Wexford in south east Ireland. At 142 feet long and carrying 335 tons of cargo with a fully laden freeboard of 1 foot, she was the smallest of the company’s three ships. She was built in Holland and launched in September 1939. Throughout WW2 she traded as a costal cargo ship, sailing as a neutral, flying the green-white-orange tricolour of Ireland and EIRE painted large on her sides and deck, out of convoy, with full navigation lights. Some time before her involvement in the rescue in Bay of Biscay the “KERLOGUE” was involved in two other wartime incidents. 2nd April 1941. Following an attack by German bombers on a British convoy, the Wild Rose, a collier out of Liverpool, was damaged and left behind. The “KERLOGUE” en voyage from Wexford to Cardiff under the command of Captain Samuel Owens of Carrickfergus Co. Antrim sighted distress rockets, altered course and went to the aid of the stricken Wild Rose. The 12-man British crew was taken on aboard, the Wild Rose taken in tow and beached on Rosslare strand on the Wexford coast. 23rd October 1943. En voyage from Port Talbot to Lisbon with a cargo of coal, the “KERLOGUE” was attacked, about 130 miles south of Ireland, by two planes, later identified as RAF Mosquitoes from 307 Polish Squadron. The cannon shells that lodged in the coal did not penetrate the hull and were later found to be of British origin.

The “KERLOGUE” was reported wrecked at Tramso Norway in 1960.

Text and photograph are © Maritime Matters Wexford Press 2003 and are reproduced with kind permission.

Thanks to my friend and neighbor Fr. Fritz O'Kelly O.F.M who told me the story of this rescue. He had a German mother and and Irish father and was living in Cork at the time, he was called down to Cobh when the Kerlogue arrived with the rescued German mariners. He said most of them were aged between fifteen and twenty years of age. He said that before the Kerlogue arrived all the men thought they were going to die in the darkness of the Bay of Biscaye.

Because of wartime censorship the crew of the Kerlogue got very little recognition for their great act of kindness. It was only at the time of the 60th anneversary that Dick Roche T.D (Minister for European Arrairs) who's father was a sailor on the Kerlogue, made a speech in the Irish Senate on the subject of the rescue.