The vote stays local

Campaign trail

It’s Wednesday afternoon and Carmel Brady is canvassing a rural area between Redhills and Ballyhaise. Her brother Patsy Fitzpatrick is behind the wheel of a family saloon, as to cover just a few dozen homes takes in quite the spin along lanes. They’re great company however and two and a half hours fly by quicker than you can say single transferable vote.

It’s a disparate community as fine stone facade houses with impressive gates are interspersed with more modest dwellings.

When Carmel knocks on the doors, time is seemingly in infinite supply. She’ll happily while away an afternoon chatting about picking blackberries, people they know in common, the good weather, how Eamon Ryan - in her mind - hasn’t a clue about rural Ireland, anything to establish a connection. It’s not an act though, Carmel is a people person and loves a natter.

She recalled chatting “an older man God love him” earlier that day for 15 minutes. It seems loneliness would take the man into Cavan Town for coffee just to meet someone.

Carmel’s pitch to voters is that she is originally a Bunnoe woman, she’s living in Tullyvin now and has worked a lifetime in Cootehill. She doesn’t need to spell it out: she’s a local person with local people’s interests at heart.

Only occasionally do people’s issues arise - a woman on a public waiting list for a hip replacement, a poor road surfacing job, an elderly person wondering why she didn’t have medical card, and another who wants a bus to come along her road - “as we’re not second class citizens here”.

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Fine Gael is never mentioned in her opening gambit, and only seldom arises thereafter.

“In a general election you show your [party] colours, but in local it’s the person in the area - because everyone wants a person in their area,” Carmel says.

One time the party is mentioned it is by an elderly lady who is a self-professed supporter. It’s then that Carmel volunteers: “There were rough times in Fine Gael when you wouldn’t want to say you were Fine Gael. But I have to say I’m delighted to have Heather [Humphreys] as a backing because I wouldn’t be able to do as much as I’m doing only for her.”

Name dropping Heather Humphreys comes more readily as the minister has splashed the cash in the locale. It’s a selling point picked up by Carmel’s running mate, Val Smith. The Lavey man simply lists grants secured for towns and villages in the area over the last five years - let the figures do the talking.

The pamphlet Carmel distributes on this canvas focuses on her own bio - she handwrites a note on it for those not at home - but for the Cootehill canvas she has a separate pamphlet, which details the grants secured locally.

In 2019, Fine Gael ran four candidates in this MD, with Shirley Hall in Baileiborough and John O’Hare in Kingscourt. This time out there’s just Carmel and Val who are quite close geographically, thus leaving the other two large towns and Shercock without a local Fine Gael candidate. Between them Hall and O’Hare achieved over 1,100 first preference votes, transfers of which got Carmel over the line.

“They got Fine Gael votes up there because they were local. And now, here we are myself and Val beside each other and we’re looking for Fine Gael votes up that part of the country where people don’t really know us,” she reflects, wishing they had run a third candidate.

She fears those Fine Gael votes will go to other parties because “they want someone in their area”.

The Celt asks Patsy if he’s a Fine Gael supporter or a Carmel Brady supporter?

“I’m a Carmel supporter, I’m not really into politics in a big way - I’m a big community man, so somebody who can help the community, no matter what it is - from childcare right up to senior citizen events - that’s who I support.”

One of the doors knocked upon is answered by former Sinn Féin councillor Charlie Boylan’s son, Cathal - cue a warm chat about the Boylan family members Carmel knows. She doesn’t ask for a vote on this occasion.

The Celt asks Cathal about local issues, and he explains on a personal level he has two daughters with autism; the younger of who is waiting a long time for an up to date needs assessment.

“It’s the pressure of getting the right schools for them, and the supplementary services- speech and language [therapy] and OT. It’s tough at the minute - Enable Ireland don’t have the staffing resources.”

The Celt in turn raises this issue of attracting and retaining therapists with Carmel, who flags a significant contributory factor.

“It’s hard to get in [to university] to do speech therapy and all these different things. They’re getting to places like Belfast and Derry in the North, but then it’s not recognised when they come down here.

“I know two lassies who qualified in England and can’t come down south.”

The canvas proceeds. A few doors up and a beautiful pair of golden retrievers bound towards us.

“They’re like young calves getting out the gp,” quips owner Lorraine O’Neill as she comes out to greet Carmel with a hug. She’s well known as a Cavan Town barber, she is also involved in community work in Redhills.

“We are not getting anything in Redhills because we are known as an affluent area,” she explains adding a local group is trying to set up a breakfast club and after school in Killoughter Hall.

“There’s so many things we are trying to build in Redhills - we are trying to build the population but there is a lot of our own community who would love to stay in Redhills but they can’t because there’s no housing and so they are moving to Ballyhaise. There’s no planning and there’s no development.”

Lorraine credits Carmel for helping get a €50,000 grant to make Redhills GFC more accessible, money for a lick of paint for derelict buildings, and supporting a fundraiser for a community centre.

As the canvas draws to a close, Carmel estimates that between noon and evening time, she had handed out 250 pamphlets and volunteers: “Heather says one in every 10 you canvas will vote for you.”

By the Humphreys’ metric, that’s a mere 25 hard won votes for Carmel. Patsy cheerfully concludes: “The only thing I can say, is thankfully it’s only every five years.”

a gently spoken man notes he heard on the news of people who can hardly afford to feed the childer now in places”.

“Take that with a pinch of salt. If you met mammy and daddy they could be in a different spot during the day and spent a lot of money. You could go in there and buy a pound of mince, a few spuds and and your bit of carrots - you’ll have a tasty enough dinner for under a tenner.”

She explains she does agree with welfare payments in cash - instead recommending a supermarket voucher card for groceries or clothes.

“I don’t believe in giving anybody cash on a Thursday or Friday.”

“So you’re all out to do anything for me?” said one elderly lady who initially seemed quite cold to the approach. Carmel replies if she holds clinics in Cootehill regularly if she has any problems, adding, “So Heather’s my boss”.

The lady replies - “You have a good one then,” and the chat flies from there.

One man who said he’d give her a vote brought up the roads - aside from someone complaining of an unfinished section.

“Roads are a huge issue in rural areas,” she agreed noting how it had rained for months on end.

“There’s another way of looking at it,” he contended, suggesting that sat navs are directing motorists on the shortest route, which is leading to more damage on minor roads unable to deal wit the traffic. “A lot of traffic that comes from the North heading for Dublin is being brought this road as they turn in at Cloverhill.”