Politics in state of flux locally and nationally
THE political landscape is always changing, locally, nationally and internationally and we are in a state of political flux right now when nothing is certain.
Locally in the last couple of weeks we have had the resignation of Peter Fitzpatrick from Fine Gael as well as the selection of Cllr John McGahon as that party’s candidate alongside Fergus O’Dowd TD in the next General Election.
Nationally we have had the resignation of Minister Denis Naughten which further tightens the numbers game for the Government, putting the prospect of an election firmly back on the table, or does it, as Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin released a letter last week seeking an agreement with Fine Gael that there will be no election until after Brexit.
Internationally there remains only one show in town as far as European affairs is concerned and that is Brexit with the clock ticking down to this week’s Summit in Brussls, while we have had the backdrop last week of the DUP and Arlene Foster playing hardball and threatening to withdraw their support for Prime Minister Theresa May if there is any divergence between the Brexit solution for Britain and Northern Ireland. Interesting times indeed. Certainly the saying that a week is a long time in politics has never rung so true.
Locally the resignation of Peter Fitzpatrick from Fine Gael, while it was signalled during the summer, when he stated that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election for the party was still a something of a political earthquake. Certainly it caused tremors nationally, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar clearly not taking aboard Deputy Fitzpatrick’s concerns and reservations seriously enough until it was too late and the Dundalk man had already made his decision.
Since moving to the independent benches Deputy Fitzpatrick has wasted no time in asserting his new found credentials, voting against the budget last week in the Dáil.
Deputy Fitzpatrick intends to stand as an independent candidate in the next General Election and that will be a big game changer, but Louth has no record of electing independents, with strong candidates such as Jimmy Bellew, Tom Bellew and Mary Grehan never making it to Leinster House, while standing on their own.
Will his detachment from Fine Gael, assist or hinder him? Newly found independent views on matters such as Louth County Hospital which he called be fully reopened this week, will win new supporters, but will those new supporters exceed those he will lose as a result of jumping ship from Fine Gael.
Being able to canvas the entire county as an independent will assist someone such as Fitzpatrick who has a profile from his sporting career with Louth, but again will that appeal replace the party infrastructure and organisation that he has lost.
This week, Cllr John McGahon who won the Fine Gael nomination just a couple of weeks ago at their party convention publicly revealed that he was involved in an assault during the summer and that he has personnel issues with alcohol.
Rumours of the assault had been swirling around the town for some time and it was always going to become public knowledge one way or another before the next election, so the county councillor took the wisest course of action and took control of the matter by revealing it himself.
He is not the first or the last person to do something stupid while under the influence of alcohol but it remains to be seen if his actions and admission do him any long term damage.
One thing for certain is with Fitzpatrick’s resignation from Fine Gael, his new independence, Cllr McGahon’s arrival into the race along with his revelations will only add spice to a contest which was already very fluid with the previous announcement and retirement of Gerry Adams TD from Sinn Fein.
For many elections Louth was amongst the most predictable of constituencies, but more recently that has certainly changed, firstly with the election of Gerry Adams in 2011, when Fianna Fail only won one seat out of four available and then in 2016 when Sinn Fein secured a second seat with the victory of Imelda Munster, Louth’s first female TD.s it stands right now, the outcome of the next poll in County Louth looks very unpredictable.