Casey harnessed the unhappiness of Middle Ireland
How rank outsider became a political superstar
WHEN the disgruntled audience at Seán O’Casey’s play The Plough And The Stars rioted in the Abbey Theatre in 1926, WB Yeats climbed onto the stage and bellowed at the mob: ‘You have disgraced yourselves again!’
There were echoes of the poet’s verdict across the airwaves and in print media this week with the reaction to the incredible vote garnered by a virtual unknown presidential candidate Peter Casey.
The question has to be asked, how did this unknown businessman and tax resident in the United States emerge from a packed field to secure one in every five votes cast?
It beggars belief that a candidate who, in his pathetic bid for the Seanad in 2016, could only garner the votes of 13 councillors after travelling 10,000km, has, within two years and with a team of three and a single car, won a vote greater than the combined efforts and money of the well-organised campaigns of Seán Gallagher, Sinn Féin’s Liath Ní Riada, Joan Freeman and Gavin Duffy.
Don’t forget that this was in an election where the most popular politician for a generation, Michael D Higgins, conducted a masterclass in restrained campaigning.
However, just as there is nothing accidental about Mr Casey’s tousled tresses, his focus on the worries of what he called ‘Middle Ireland’ worked a treat for him.
Casey made some distasteful gaffes. He said he would become a ‘spokesperson’ for the Stardust Relatives and Victims group, something this crusading group quickly disavowed. He then claimed he had only learned of the injustice visited on the victims and survivors of the 1981 fire, which claimed the lives of 48 young people – an extraordinary assertion.
Only three weeks ago, a powerful meeting was held in his home town of Derry as part of the Stardust campaign. For some reason, Casey tried to use this tragedy in his campaign.
And yes, his comments about Travellers were ill-informed, hurtful and bordered on the farcical. Reporters visibly winced and stifled laughter when he declared in Dublin Castle that if he had won he would have invited Travellers to live in the Phoenix Park for five years.
Believe it or not, Casey kept a straight face when he came out with this arrant nonsense.
BUT in some parts of the country he grabbed 40% of the votes of an intelligent electorate. Let us not hide the fact that Casey scored higher in areas where these issues have been raised. But that still does not account for his strong showing all over the country.
He has successfully tapped into the worries and powerlessness of Middle Ireland. On the evening of the presidential vote, family motorists were once again trapped on the M50 for two hours in rush-hour traffic, a common occurrence.
The figure I heard bandied about in support of Casey was that the paltry €1.40 that most working families benefited from the recent Budget despite the hyped claims before that the Government would help the squeezed middle.
Casey proved that words matter.
The political parties should remember this, but more importantly they should remember that actions speak louder and longer.