Forde has eye on being SF’s second man in Wexford
ONE year ago, Wexford Sinn Féin were faced with a dilemma. As the lights went out in the count centre, they had lost two of their four seats on Wexford County Council. Most crucially, one of them was the party’s general election candidate and veteran, Johnny Mythen. They were at a crossroads. While the support for a well-liked Mythen was still there, some whispers suggested that maybe he should be replaced on the general election ticket by Wexford councillor Tom Forde.
Although left to wait it out until the end, the 34-year-old school teacher pulled a strong first preference vote from Wexford town and many saw him as a viable alternative. As it turned out, support for Mythen prevailed. He polled a little better in the by-election before blowing everyone else out of the water in the general election, topping the poll.
While Cllr Forde has always professed his support for Mythen, he does harbour ambitions of his own.
‘Look, first and foremost I 100% support Johnny Mythen,’ he stressed. ‘He’s doing some fantastic work at the moment and we’re right behind him.’
With Mythen leaving a significant surplus behind him in February’s general election though, could Forde be in the running as a second Sinn Féin candidate?
‘All options I’m sure will be considered,’ he said. ‘At Sinn Féin, we have a very democratic process and any party member can put their name forward as long as they have a seconder. I’d have no right to consider it would be just handed to me. However, were we to run a second candidate in the future,
I would definitely be interested.’
Meanwhile, Forde foresees no fall off in Sinn Féin support from February’s strong showing.
‘I suppose the spotlight is on Fine Gael with the job they’re doing on Covid-19 and people seem relatively happy with the government response,’ he said. ‘But at the same time, the issues are still there. I have people contacting me regularly about housing issues for one.’
‘We’ve also had a huge increase in membership. Just in Wexford town, we’re working through 100 applications to join the party and contacting these people for a chat. I’ve never seen anything like it since I joined Sinn Féin at 18.’
‘I think there’s still an anger as well that Sinn Féin are being excluded from government formation talks,’ Cllr Forde added. ‘It’s the right of the other parties to do that. That’s the democratic process. But we’ve been clear from the start we’re willing to talk to anyone. If we are excluded from government, I’m confident that the Sinn Féin team can hold the government to account.’