GOREY COMING TO TERMS WITH LIFE WITHOUT A LOCAL TD
THE PEOPLE OF GOREY HAVE TAKEN THE LAST WEEK TO ADJUST TO A NEW FOUND REALITY AFTER BOTH MICHAEL D’ARCY AND MALCOLM BYRNE LOST SEATS
IT has been seven days since the people of Gorey and north Wexford woke up to a new reality of its two TDs losing their seats following General Election 2020.
Both Michael D’Arcy of Fine Gael and Malcolm Byrne of Fianna Fail were knocked out during the final two counts. Johnny Mythen of Sinn Féin, Brendan Howlin of Labour, Independent Verona Murphy, James Browne of Fianna Fail and Paul Kehoe of Fine Gael took the five seats in the county.
As we look ahead to the new Dáil which is due to sit for the first time this week, there is still a sense of shock to be felt in Gorey town as its people adjust to the new reality.
Before the election, Elaine Clarke and her campaign team for the creation of a third secondary school in the Gorey said that they would present a petition to the new Minister for Education when the Dáil sat.
Although the campaign continues to gain momentum, Elaine said it will be an uphill battle.
‘We’re very worried now with no TD. Although Enniscorthy have three TDs, the area has its own issues with regard to schools, so we’re not going to be the priority. We have contacted the other sitting TDs previously and they never came to a meeting, but they were always contacted and would have known about it.
‘We know that Malcolm and Michael will stay behind us and still help us fight, but we don’t have the same push now’.
Next for the campaign is to set up a website and newsletter to reach more people.
‘We are aiming to have our petition ready for the end of March, but like everyone, we’ll have to wait for the new government to present it,’ she said.
Another project of importance is the future of Gorey’s Market House.
Speaking to developer Harry Crosbie, a personal friend of Michael D’Arcy, who currently has a submission in to Wexford County Council with Gorey’s Redmond Brothers for the development of a 1,500 seater mini arena around the ideal of ‘Vicar Street South’.
‘I’m very very sorry and distressed that Michael D’Arcy has lost his seat. He worked incredibly hard for the town and the loss is dreadful.
‘We will continue working full steam ahead with the Market House plans, it is business as usual’.
In last year’s local elections following the new boundary settings, Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District enlarged to have ten council seats while Enniscorthy reduced from eight to six seats.
As it stands now following the general election, Enniscorthy has three TDs while Gorey has lost its two sitting TDs.
Chairperson of Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District
Cllr Joe Sullivan said that Gorey will suffer not being represented at national level.
‘The result of the election was a blow to the area, we need national representation no matter what the party colour and the fact we have no TD is detrimental. Gorey needs to have a voice at the top table, it’s the most progressive area in the county and the fastest growing town so it’s just highly unfortunate.
‘The people of Gorey that voted for candidates in other parts of the county will have to look at themselves. When we talk about housing, health and transport, we may be left behind as this always happens when have a lack of representation, it shouldn’t but it does have a knock on affect.
‘From a Fianna Fáil perspective, Malcolm Byrne has a big future in politics, under no circumstances should anyone write him off. He has the ability to carve out a place for himself.
‘The Market House, the Waleran site, they are moving in the right direction but I would have huge concerns for the campaign for a third secondary school. We need someone to promote it, at Department level and it’s going to be different.
‘It’s just not good for the area, and our local Council meetings will have a different complexion now,’ he said.
Fine Gael councillor and director of elections for Michael D’Arcy, Cllr Anthony Donohoe agreed that things will be different.
‘I’m bitterly disappointed with the loss of the two TDs to the town, it’s a booming town and in my opinion, although we have five county TDs, you need TDs from your area that are across the issues.
‘We need a third secondary school, who is going to deliver that? As well as projects like the Waleran’s site and the Market House.
‘This is not from just a Fine Gael perspective, but Michael is married with two children, and he has given up a lot to stand up for north Wexford from a personal perspective.
‘His staff locally as well will be losing their jobs, these are sacrifices. I don’t think we could have done anything differently throughout the campaign, we had big canvass teams out but it’s just the way the vote broke.
‘You have to keep going and Gorey is going to keep going with the visionary that is Tom
Enright and the ten local councillors. I’m concerned for Gorey but I believe in it, and I will do my best not to let it fall back, as will the other nine councillors.
‘We had no TD from 2011 to 2016, but even when Michael went to the Seanad, he kept banging the drum for Gorey and I hope that he doesn’t leave politics.
‘All politics is local, and there are projects that wouldn’t be there without the representation we had. The Tara Rocks community centre is a good example, someone like Verona Murphy in the south is not going to come up to Gorey to fill in an application form for a community group. We need people locally to bring the IDA and the Cairn group down to us’.
From a tourism perspective, a spokesperson for Gorey Visitor’s Centre described the loss for Gorey as huge.
‘As the result unfolded on the second day of counting, we watched it like hawks waiting.
ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL, AND THERE ARE PROJECTS THAT WOULDN’T BE THERE WITHOUT THE REPRESENTATION WE HAD.
We’re obviously concerned for what’s going to happen to this building. Prior to the election, we had spoken with Michael D’Arcy a couple of times about it. He was trying to source another premises while renovations would take place, so now we don’t know what happens next, whether we’ll have a place.
‘Five years ago people didn’t know we were here, we’re known now and Malcolm was behind us as well during that process. We feel there’s no one to pull up the reins, as Malcolm and Michael were always available for us when we needed them. The result was a bit of a shock and we still can’t believe it.
‘We’re wondering where this leaves us, as we don’t know who the voice is now for the tourist end of things. People were voting for change, but they voted for party as opposed to a person who would work for the town.
‘In terms of our jobs, a lot of work has gone in here to keep this going. We always found Michael and Malcolm to be very approachable and helpful, there was follow up with them both and we were never disregarded.
‘Last year during the National Enterprise Town awards, Malcolm was given a last minute phone call to bring the judges around and he made that time and sold our town very well. He didn’t stumble, you’d know he was from here and he loves Gorey. He has a mind of knowledge about the town, the businesses, the people and that comes from experience.
‘This is true for Michael too who has been supportive, and has always tried to reassure us. Really, although they were different parties both men were doing things for the good of the town, but now we don’t have that’.
CEO of Innovate and former president of Gorey Chamber of Commerce Jim Hughes said that he is not concerned for Gorey’s future business development but that all businesspeople must pull together.
‘Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft once famously said that “most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years” and it is for this reason I think we should look to the medium term. We have had periods without elected TDs before, it is not where we would have wished to be but it is where we find ourselves.
‘The European Commission predicted last week that the Irish economy will grow by 3.6% this year and by 3.2% in 2021. In its interim outlook, the Commission also estimated that Ireland’s real GDP will have grown by 5.7% in 2019, the fastest rate in the EU. This strong growth was driven by strong private consumption, exports and investment. While recent surveys show a marked rebound in consumer and business sentiment after the threat of a no-deal Brexit receded, which in turn supported a more optimistic outlook. The Irish economy is effectively operating at full capacity, North Wexford is obviously a subset so for the region to continue to go from strength to strength we need these economic figures to continue on an upward trajectory’.
He said although Michael and Malcolm had been hard working and committed, that it now falls on businesspeople to continue to put their shoulders to the grindstone.
‘Looking at Gorey as an enterprise and digital town, it will certainly have an negative impact but it’s a tactical initiative within a wider area strategy which is driven by a lot of hard working people in the local authority and business community. The last time Gorey had no TD was certainly a difficult period but that was primary predicated on the state of the overall economy which really only started to turn positive towards the latter end of this period.
‘To the newly elected TDs in terms of picking up the reins I would say measure twice, cut once’.
One newly elected TD is poll topper Johnny Mythen of Sinn Féin, and local councillor Fionntán Ó’Súilleabháin said that he has every confidence in him to work for Gorey as a priority.
‘Johnny Mythen is tying in closely with me to advance important local issues for Gorey district. These issues include the need for affordable housing, sporting and other facilities and a third second-level school on the Wexford County Council site at St. Waleran’s. As I’m on the board of WWETB as well as those of Gorey Community School and Creagh College, I am acutely aware of the urgency of the school issue, so this will be a priority for both of us, and we intend to work with council officials, elected members and the four other TDs to help secure Departmental approval as soon as possible’.
Cllr Ó’Súilleabháin confirmed that Johnny Mythen would set up a constituency office in Gorey.
‘Mental health services for North Wexford is another priority. Johnny and I also want to work with all parties to advance the Market House project and we hope to meet with Wexford County Council’s Chief Executive, Tom Enright, shortly to discuss all the above.
‘Accustomed for many years to having a locally-based TD, it’s natural for some local people to be concerned that we don’t now have a TD who is geographically located in Gorey. However, to allay such fears, we can assure local people that this needn’t be a problem, as Johnny knows that he was elected to represent all the people of Wexford, not just Enniscorthy. Gorey is a top priority. We also have ten county councillors representing Gorey-Kilmuckridge Municipal District and we work closely together. People have demanded change so it is crucial that we respect that, and have Wexford TD’s in Leinster House who will vote the right way on housing, health and other critically important issues. That happens to be the place where the big decisions that affect the lives of Gorey people are made.
‘We would like to express our commiserations to both Malcolm and Michael who no doubt will continue to have a future in public life in some form or another. Despite whatever political differences we may have had, I always found Malcolm’s dogged determination and never-give-up attitude over two decades to be highly admirable. As for Michael, we sat in the same desk from the first day in junior infants right up until the end of primary school. So I respect anyone who has the courage to put their name on a ballot paper, as politics can be a cruel business’.