FEARFUL LOCALS SEEK COMFORT BUT LEO OFFERS THE OLD FUDGE
DAY three of the campaign trail and things are not getting any easier for Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar. The Taoiseach started the morning on local radio in Drogheda and it was a tense and uncomfortable affair – mirroring the feeling of locals who have been besieged by gangland violence.
No amount of blaming the opposition could deflect from the gravity of the problem, but that never stopped him before.
People are afraid to walk the streets, taxi drivers are terrified when they stop at red lights and law and order is breaking down, he was told. But he stumbled in his response, refusing to say he would attend a march in solidarity with the people of the town.
Even when told they ‘would feel safer’ if he was there, he could not offer them that small comfort.
He’d need to check his diary, he said weakly. No doubt party handlers will get a dressing down for not preparing him for that.
In response to a question from the Irish Daily Mail, the Taoiseach conceded that law and order had effectively broken down. ‘I don’t want to describe it [Drogheda] as lawless because often when you say that about a place or a town, you know people see that as a criticism of their town, but we do need to restore law and order and that’s our objective.’
As reporters pressed him, one question went unanswered: ‘Are you going to meet the victim’s family?’
In the end, a turn and a shake of the head from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan confirmed there would be no meeting with the grieving relatives of 17-year-old victim Keane Mulready-Woods.
And then even the ever-media friendly local TD Fergus O’Dowd fled before he could be asked a question, insisting he’d talk later.
After that they went on to an hour-long meeting with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, where the Taoiseach said they received a confidential briefing which he couldn’t disclose. They were working with the gardaí to secure additional resources and ensure CCTV in the town was back up and running, he added. A short time later, Mr Varadkar was told about another shooting in north Dublin that left two men injured. At that stage the decision to repeat the mantra that ‘Fine Gael is the party of law and order’ was clearly becoming questionable, at the very least.
So far, in this campaign, the Taoiseach has been struggling to land any meaningful blows. His attempt to lay the blame for the injuries to a homeless man on a Fianna Fáil candidate backfired spectacularly, and as Fine Gael tries to focus on Brexit, all around them voters ask about the creaking health system, lack of housing, the dire circumstances of our homeless and, above all considering the horrific events of the past days, our crime-blighted areas.
Yet Mr Varadkar is defiant, putting on his famous big smile for the media and trying hard to be personable on the streets. While it might not come natural it is clear he is desperately trying to play his part. The last stop of the day was in Birr, Co. Offaly, where he was accompanied by Minister
Flanagan and Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, and looking to retain seats in the Laois-Offaly constituency. An hour before they arrived three men, dressed in their work clothes, were discussing the election in Dooly’s Hotel bar over lunch. ‘I think I’ll vote Green this time. Is there a Green Party candidate here?’ asked one.
‘There is, I can’t think of her name though,’ he’s told.
‘They supported the Bord na Móna workers and I won’t be going Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael again,’ he said.
GREEN candidate Senator Pippa Hackett will be hoping her party’s support for Bord na Móna workers who lost their jobs will see the Green wave make its way to the Midlands, but probably at the expense of independent sitting TD Carol Nolan, who is the most vulnerable of the incumbents.
The showpiece event was the opening of engineering firm Grant Ireland’s refurbished premises. Local politicians from across the political divide, along with the French ambassador, gathered to see the Taoiseach cut the ribbon.
Despite the political brickbats between Fianna Fáil and Fine
Gael this week, the latest instalment of Civil War politics was very civil indeed, as Mr Flanagan and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen joked while walking along the corridors of the new factory.
Later Mr Varadkar cheerfully quipped that they could cut more ribbons together, but Deputy Cowen dryly replied: ‘It won’t be the first of many.’
The Taoiseach won’t have been too pleased that his hosts [Grant Ireland] had already handed the election to Fianna Fáil, with Mr Cowen’s name tag reading: ‘Barry Cowen TD, Government.’ Though the deputy was more than happy to show it off.
It was then on to Birr town centre where, in one bizarre moment, a bride was snatched from the arms of her new husband inside Dooly’s Hotel and rushed into the square for a picture with Leo and Charlie.
Not quite the wedding night she had envisaged, I’m sure.
And later the Taoiseach popped into a local butchers to buy two steaks, just so Fianna Fáil couldn’t accuse him of being a vegan. Though, if there is a Green wave, he might lose a few votes too.
On Main Street after being introduced to one woman, she cut him short saying: ‘What are you going to do for us?’ His response was to sell the Brexit success story, but he had barely begun to regale her about his buddy Michel Barnier and his Boris bromance when she cut him off again to say: ‘I’m more concerned about health and housing, especially health.’
HE asked if she had a personal experience in the health service but she, understandably, balked at sharing her personal life with a pack of reporters, instead adding that the conditions nurses were working in were unacceptable.
The Taoiseach said he understood this and that his own sister is a midwife but the woman didn’t seem convinced by his concern.
The penny may finally have dropped yesterday for the Taoiseach and his handlers: the Brexit success story isn’t warming the hearts of too many voters.