Declan feels cross-party co-operation is a necessity
It’s a cold bright morning with a touch of frost in the air. There’s not many about as Fianna Fail TD Declan Breathnach and his team of canvassers head up the Carrick Road, calling on doors and dropping leaflets in letter boxes when there’s no one at home. As a former county councillor, first elected back in 1991 Breathnach is an old hand at the hustings as are his team of canvassers, which this morning includes Cllr Erin McGreehan.
‘I’ve got a brilliant team,’ he says. ‘ We are covering about 18kms a day.’ The team splits up and takes different streets, with the instruction that they are to call him if anyone wants to talk to him directly.
Entering Willow Grove, Breathnach points out that the new surface on the roads was carried out after a lot of effort by local politicians including himself, Fine Gael Cllr Maria Doyle and Independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick. He speaks of the importance of public representatives working together, regardless of party, for the benefit of their constituents.
Later on, he comments that he was lucky to be ‘ born into a Fianna Fail family.’ This loyalty is something that still exists, even with today’s younger voters.
One of the first people he meets in the estate is a young man who assures him of his vote. ‘ My father has voted for him for many years so I will be following in his footsteps.’
However, at one door when he asks for a vote, he is told: ‘No chance. I won’t be voting Fine Gael or Labour either - they are all the same. It’s time for a change.’
There’s not many at home on a Friday morning, and most of those who answer the door are retired people. There’s no doubting the issues which dominate this year’s election with housing and health topping the list.
‘ The big issue on the doorstep for people with adult children is that young people can’t afford to raise a mortgage,’ he says.
Orla Galvin is one of those who knows only too well the hardship brought about by commuting to Dublin, having moved home to save for a mortgage. While she is delighted that she has finally been able to buy a house, she points out that her siblings could all do so when they were ten years younger than her.
‘My friends are all people like me, who stayed in the education system, are highly qualified and who emigrated but have now come home . Then they find can’t afford to buy in Dublin so end up buying in places like Dundalk and having to commute.’
She believes employment needs to be decentralised away from the central hub of Dublin so people can work where they can afford to live.
Working in the healthcare sector, she is frustrated that Ireland is still struggling with bed capacity at a time when great advances are being made globally in medicine. ‘We should be looking to the future to areas such as personalised care.’
Her mother Teresa says that housing costs, high rents and hospitals are the issues which count in this election.
Retired teacher Kevin Mullen, whose daughter has followed him into the profession, raises the long wait faced by parents whose children need to have psychological assessments. ‘It’s an absolute disgrace,’ he says.
At all houses, Breathnach tells people to get in touch with him after the election if they have any issues. He says he is a great believer in giving people his contact details so that they can know where to find him when all the excitement surrounding the election has died down. His constituency office has had 6,000 representations since the last election, he says, praising his office staff for looking after a plethora of queries.
Back down on the Carrick Road, John Moore says that housing is one of the main issues. ‘It’s very, very bad and a lot of people are on the streets. It’s sad to see so many on the streets.’ He’s also worried about the health service, saying more