SINN FÉIN’S KENNY IS CONFIDENT OF RETAINING SEAT

MARTIN KENNY TD GOES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN SLIGO, AND SPEAKS TO JESSICA FARRY ABOUT THE RISE IN SUPPORT FOR HIS PARTY ACCORDING TO OPINION POLLS, THE ISSUES CONCERNING THE PEOPLE OF THE CONSTITUENCY, AND THE STATE PENSION CONTROVERSY.

“DON’ T leave me blank whatever you do” Sinn Féin’s Martin Kenny urged voters around S li got own last Thursday afternoon as he tried to sway the undecided, in the hope that they would commit their number one to the Leitrim based TD.

It’s clear that many of the voters are keen to see a change of Government, or at least that’s what they say when Kenny and his posse of Councillor Chris MacManus and Cllr. Thomas Healy proposition them on O’Connell Street.

Kenny is met with positivity from the locals he greets, although a number cautioned him.

“I’ ll vote for you. But don’t walk away and forget about us,” said one gentleman as Kenny continued his walkabout around the town centre.

“We won’t, we won’t,” Kenny assured him. He would be reminded of his pre-election promises if he didn’t keep them, the gentleman added.

Sinn Féin had initially selected both Kenny and Cllr. MacManus for the election, with MacManus stepping aside just two weeks ago to give Kenny the best chance possible of retaining his seat.

Kenny is confident of his chances heading into the election, despite the fact that this constituency has the most candidates running in the election alongside Wicklow, with 19 people competing for four seats.

“I’ve been a TD for four years, my profile is quite high. People know me and recognise me. That’s all positive. There’s been a positive response from people. I feel like I’m going to do very well,” Kenny said.

He added: “Of course elections are very competitive, there’s a lot of contestants. All of us are vying for the same thing, to get number one votes. Being the sole candidate in Sligo/Leitrim for the party will probably benefit me a little bit. We were always slightly nervous coming in to this election with a two candidate strategy and we went to the one candidate strategy.

“I’m very grateful to Chris MacManus for the decision he made around that in collaboration with the party. We’re determined to retain the seat here and to grow the party across the country and to be in government and to make change happen.”

Kenny has faced serious backlash in recent months after he made a speech in the Dáil about asylum seekers after protests began in Ballinamore as it emerged that a number of people would be housed in a direct provision centre in the Leitrim town.

The news sparked much anger, and Kenny felt that himself when his car was set on fire outside his family home late at night in October.

While the incident did leave him somewhat shook, he says it’s in the past and he has moved on since.

“People like to see someone who will make a stand and isn’t afraid to make a stand. I, to some extent, suffered for that. But that’s OK, I’m a big boy and I’m well able to deal with that. We move on in life and we don’t look back.

“It does display a very negative, narrow-mindedness that there is in a very small minority of people in the country. But that’s not in the young people. I have great faith in the youth. Young people are the people who will convince the older generation that there has to be a better future.

“I look at some of the things we’ve seen in the past and wonder will a future generation be apologising for it and I think they will.”

The opinion polls so far have shown an increase in support for Sinn Féin. The Sunday Times poll showed Fianna Fáil in the lead with 32%, Fine Gael next on 20% and Sinn Féin breathing down their next on 19%.

The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed Fianna Fáil at 25%, Fine Gael at 23% and Sinn Féin at 21%.

Kenny feels that the omission of Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald from debates, alongside the planning of the RIC commemoration event that was later postponed, have helped their party in a roundabout way.

“It looks promising,” Kenny agreed. “We feel there is a bit of a bounce, you feel it on the doorstep, we feel it when we meet people. I think some of our opponents have done us a service in recent months.

“Stuff around the RIC commemoration has ignited a bit of nationalism in people and a bit of pride and that we need to look at our history

differently. We also have to be proud of the country that has emerged from all of that. The stuff around the debates is interesting.

“People are bringing it up on the doorsteps where supporters of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are saying that they are annoyed that Mary Lou and Sinn Féin has been excluded from the debates. They recognise that both parties have been, if not in government together, have been co-operating very close together for the last five years. Most people see that.

“Those things in a roundabout sort of way are bringing people to look at Sinn Féin again. I think we have excellent candidates. We have a good platform and we have policies that we feel will change the country and change the priorities for people and I think it’s getting a very good response,” he said.

The debates, and the RIC commemoration are mentioned in passing as Kenny goes about Sligo town looking for support.

“He’s a good man, that’s how I always vote,” one lady says gleefully as she gets to meet the Sinn Féin candidate.

“I just wish you would change your party,” another challenges Kenny. “Well I can’t change that I’m afraid, but if you could give me something anyway that would be a help,” Kenny replies.

For people in Sligo, Leitrim, South Donegal and North Roscommon, the main issues appear to be housing, health, investment in the region and now as of last week, the pension age.

The state pension age is due to rise to 67 next year, from 66 now. It emerged last week that private sector workers, forced to retire at 65 have to claim job-seekers’ benefit until the state pension kicks in, while public service employees can retire at 63 and receive a supplemental pension until they reach 66.

The state pension age is then due to rise to 68 later in 2028.

That issue shows no signs of going away, and it is one that has caused much debate during the campaign so far. Siptu last week launched a coalition to fight the increase in pension age.

On that issue, Kenny said: “People are concerned about their pension and what happens in regard to the extension of the pension age up to 67 and 68 later. That’s concerning a lot of people.

“We’ve made a commitment that we would reduce that down to 65, Pearse Doherty (Sinn Féin Director of Elections) has set out how we would do that. We have the lowest number of older people per head of population of the countries in Europe yet our pension age is going to be the highest.

“We need to be able to look after people. As we move forward, we’re into a new decade and this decade should be a decade of change. We need to prioritise, we need to look after families and workers, we need to look after people in their hour of need. Government should be there to support people.”

What do Sinn Féin say they will do for us here in the North West ahead of this election?

Kenny said: “We want to build an economy that will create more wealth for more people, more services for people, that we’ ll have more supports for businesses and enterprises so we can have a better future, particularly here in the North West where we find that there’s so much opportunity if only we got the investment and if only we got the businesses coming here.

“LinkedIn in Dublin is building a big new headquarters, in the centre of the capital, where people can’t afford to live. And yet, we have places like Sligo that could do with that investment and those sort of jobs coming here.

“The housing crisis is one of the big issues. Health is actually bigger, I find with most people, waiting for operations, having to pay for procedures that they would expect they should get on their medical cards. The trolley crisis is something that people are always talking about. All of those type of things are big issues. Home help as well.”

Mary Lou McDonald last week said that her party will not enter into a confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil.

Kenny elaborated: “I think there is talk about the whole coalition thing and who you would be coalescing with. At the end of the day it’s about the programme for government. It’s not about the personalities and the past. It’s about the future. It’s about having a programme for government that you can deliver, personally I think we should be looking at some kind of a collaboration of left wing parties and groups that would come together and say to the other two parties ‘OK this is the programme for government that people want, which of you are going to help deliver that?’ and I think that’s the way we should be moving forward with this.

“We all have our history, and we have a bad history, we’ve had 100 years of Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil led governments and I think it’s time for a government led by something different and I think it’s an opportunity for that.”