Verona banking on rural vote to salvage Dáil bid
WITH only a few days to go to polling day, Fine Gael by-election candidate Verona Murphy is banking on a strong rural vote to see her over the line against Fianna Fáil candidate Malcolm Byrne on Friday.
According to the bookmakers, Murphy remains the second favourite behind Cllr Byrne, with her odds stabilising at 11/4 over the weekend, having drifted to 7/2 earlier last week.
With a 100-strong campaign team and boosted by the arrival of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Monday and Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan on Saturday, the mood has taken a dramatic turn for the better within her camp after a week of negative headlines over her comments on migrants, homeless people and drink driving.
‘It’s phenomenal the support I’m getting. I’ve had more people looking to join the campaign and they have joined the campaign and that’s fantastic. I’m exhausted, emotionally and physically.
‘We have just the five days left to go and everybody is out working so hard, including myself. I am just absolutely enamoured by that,’ she said.
EMBATTLED Fine Gael candidate Verona Murphy has been front and centre of the 2019 by-election and she was joined by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Monday in Wexford town as she makes a final push for a Dáil seat.
With each day a new controversy has been plastered over the front pages of national newspapers involving Murphy.
The story this newspaper published on Tuesday was at the heart of many of the reports early in the week. Her comments suggesting that the housing minister Eoghan Murphy’s attitude to people on the social housing list was ‘ let them have cake,’ were picked up on and later raised by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin during Speaker’s Questions in the Dáil, as was her remark that migrants as young as three could have been infiltrated by Isis, a comment which sparked outrage with calls for her to be removed from the party ticket. (She later clarified that the comment arose form her experiences visiting refugee camps in Calais as a hauliers representative).
Further comments about drink driving laws being too restrictive also found their way into the national media.
The Ramsgrange woman linked asylum seekers to ISIS and called for them to be ‘deprogrammed’ on RTÉ’s This Week Programme that Sunday. The Irish Times then reported the following day that Murphy made further comments linking migrants to the terrorist group while canvassing in Wexford the previous Friday.
Fulsome apologies followed from Murphy and she even came in for criticism for making the apologies. Accompanied by Justice minister Charlie Flanagan she attended an Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre in Dungarvan Monday evening to gain a better understanding of asylum and refugee issues. She spent over four hours there and speaking afterwards, said: ‘I was very moved by my visit. I met men, women and children from wartorn regions who came here to escape brutal violence so that they could live normal family lives.’
Over the following days the national media highlighted several aspects of Murphy’s past including a bullying case of which she was one party, how the Road Safety Authority warned her not to interfere with safety inspectors going about their work, among other stories including one in which she is alleged to have used the Taoiseach’s name to gain influence during an argument. She has denied the accusations. Throughout her own party was split on the newbie candidate. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney rowed in behind her immediately, Mr Varadkar saying he accepted the apology issued by Ms Murphy following what he called her ‘foolish’ words on the issues. He added that it had been a ‘ learning experience for her and ‘anyone involved in politics.’
Mr Coveney expressed confidence in Murphy but said she has been ‘ bruised’ by ‘a very difficult few days’.
Speaking in Zagreb, the Taoiseach said: ‘She’s apologised twice now and withdrawn her remarks in full, that’s good enough for me. It’s up to the people of Wexford to decide next week if it’s good enough for them.’
Murphy was considered to be the party’s brightest hopes of securing a seat in the by-elections – which are notoriously difficult for sitting government parties to win. Mr Coveney said that Fianna Fáil had faced a similar controversy, and their candidate had apologised.
Murphy attended several official functions mid-week, including the opening of the new Georgia Southern university campus hub in Wexford town and was front and centre for photographs.
The party put an embargo in place, preventing her from speaking to the media, no doubt hoping the controversy would play itself out, but that was not to be.
Mr Varadkar encouraged ministers to support Murphy on the campaign trail. ‘We’ve four candidates in these by-elections and I would anticipate ministers, TDs, senators, party members will be canvassing for all four candidates.’
How times had changed from just four weeks previously when Mr Varadkar was praising his candidate to the heavens during a pre-opera dinner in the Thomas Moore Tavern in Wexford town on a video which was later shared on Facebook. Last week, looking far less bubbly on RTE, the Taoiseach said migration was a ‘sensitive area’ and politicians ‘need to tread carefully in what they say’.
He added: ‘But at the same time we need to acknowledge it is an issue the public talk about, and therefore politicians have to be able to talk about it too. The case I always make is one that is in favour of migration,
one that says immigration and migration have made our economy stronger, we rely on a lot of migrants to run our public services. They would not function without them, particularly the health service, and also migration has enriched Ireland’s society and culture.
‘ There is a difference between legal migration, which I support, and illegal migration, which any good government has to try and stop. We all need to be very cautious in what language we use. This has been a learning experience not just for Verona Murphy but for anyone involved in politics.’
On Wednesday Murphy focused on meeting people on the streets of Wexford and in the shops and brought Mr Coveney to Kilmore Quay to meeting fishermen. Mr Coveney was conciliatory towards the Ramsgrange woman, saying: ‘Any candidate running in an election for the first time that has experienced the 48 hours that Verona Murphy has experienced will have experienced a big knock in their confidence, but she is a very resilient individual and she is back working on her campaign today. It is not acceptable to speak about refugees or migrants in the way that we’ve heard in the last 48 hours. Verona regrets that deeply I think, has apologised, but I think there is much more to Verona Murphy than what people have read in the last 48 hours and I think the people of Wexford understand that.’
Asked if he still had confidence in the candidate, the Tánaiste said: ‘I do have confidence in her’, adding that he knows her quite well because of his work on Brexit, in which she has been an advocate for hauliers and Irish business. ‘ That’s why I think everybody was frustrated and disappointed by the comments that she made, which were ill-informed in the context of refugees and asylum seekers. She knows that now and she has sincerely apologised for those comments and I think it’s important to say, as a leader in my political party, it is not acceptable for a Fine Gael voice, a Fine Gael candidate, whether you’re a minister, whether you’re a TD or a senator, whether you’re a councillor or whether you’re running for election, to speak in a way that is irresponsible about vulnerable people like asylum seekers and refugees. ‘I think
Verona didn’t quite understand the importance of the issue and the importance of responsible political language in terms of migrants. She certainly understands it now, I can assure you.’
Mr Coveney described Ms Murphy, who is President of the Irish Road Haulage Association, as ‘ hugely energetic’ and ‘very popular’ and someone who is passionate about Wexford.
On Friday the party’s regional organiser Willie Gleeson joined Murphy on a canvass of Blackwater and The Ballagh, while on Saturday a team of 75 supporters blitzed Wexford town, accompanied by Charlie Flanagan, John Hegarty, Avril Doyle, Liam Twomey, former Duncannon GP Dr Kevin Byrne. Minister Flanagan urged canvassers to seek out a No 2 vote from Labour candidate George Lawlor’s base in the town.
Around 30 canvassers covered North Wexford, accompanied by Pat Deering TD and Andrew Doyle.
On Monday Mr Varadkar spent around five hours canvassing in Wexford. Having enjoyed lunch in Kelly’s Cafe he held a meeting with the Murphy camp before canvassing with her in Wexford town and visiting Wexford Garda Station.
Liam Twomey said he believes Murphy has a broad appeal. ‘She is a strong, capable candidate and there is a lot of respect for her and the type of person she is. I genuinely don’t believe she is racist. The comments went against her but my feeling is at the end of the day when it comes to politics people like someone who understands how to get things done and someone who is not afraid to do her job and push out the envelope.’
He said there is a sense that rural Ireland has been hard done by. ‘ People feel let down and have done for a long time. She can bring the agenda forward. People feel civil servants maybe don’t quite understand rural Ireland. The politicians representing their communities do but people need strong voices to stand up for them.’
Fine Gael has seen its support fall following the controversy over Murphy’s of-the-cuff comments.
The latest Business Post/Red C poll sample of a thousand adults between November 14 and 21 shows Fine Gael still leads the way on 30 per cent, but has dropped two points.
Murphy’s team, led by her daughter Robyn, feel they have momentum as the days wind down to Friday and it’s boots on the ground until then.