Micheál Martin was shaking hands in Oranmore, Renmore, Moycullen, Galway city centre, Knocknacarra and Armenia, over the Mayday bank holiday weekend.
The Fianna Fáil leader took a break from weekend canvassing for his Galway West by-election candidate, Councillor Cillian Keane, to attend the European Political Community summit in the Transcaucasian capital of Yerevan, this Monday, May 4.
But he was back at it by Tuesday in Clybaun, and in the Conamara South electoral area, where bookies’ by-election favourite, Noel Thomas, an ex-Fianna Fáiler, holds a Galway county council seat for Independent Ireland.
“I think you need to be very, very careful with the tag ‘bookies’ favourite’ – that means nothing in elections,” the Taoiseach warned the Advertiser while out canvassing in a sharp, ink blue suit.
“There are very few strongholds anywhere, and I think Cillian Keane has proven to be very attractive across the constituency… what struck me on the doorsteps was many young people asking their parents to vote for Cillian,” he claimed.
Conversely, what struck many Galwegians last week was how to deal with Ireland’s head of government suddenly appearing, unannounced, on their doorsteps over the weekend.
Community WhatsApp groups were reportedly pinging like mad with news that blacked-out Audis were circling neighbourhoods, while suspicious-looking fellows abounded, who turned out to be close protection gardaí in plain clothes, scouting ahead.
Martin’s handlers said a number of dogs escaped while homeowners stood dumbstruck at open front doors. One Galway woman made the taoiseach wait on her threshold while she changed out of her pyjamas inside “to better talk to him,” while the children of another potential voter accused the Cork TD of “cheating” after he and Keane joined their front garden game of pickleball, which became overly competitive.
Another woman ignored Mr Martin completely, as she interrogated Keane on whether he used to babysit her cousins. At one stage, the most powerful man in Ireland was yanked inside a home in Knocknacarra, for a “you-have-no-choice” 9pm cuppa, while 12 canvassers and his security detail twiddled their thumbs outside.
We’re a tough crowd, apparently. This did not happen in Yerevan.
Funding for Galway
Alongside Galway’s Fianna Fail councillors, TDs and senators all out campaigning for the 25-year-old wunderkind from Maree, the Taoiseach was accompanied by a number of party apparatchiks normally based in Dublin, Strasbourg or Brussels, who have been dispatched to stay in Galway city hotels each weekend, until poling day, on Friday, May 22. The party treasurer is restricting accommodation budgets to less than €120 per night – a tricky enough proposition in Galway entering its busy tourist season.
The Taoiseach is unconvinced on the idea of Galway piloting a €1 per night bed tax to pay for vital services for these 2.4 million visitors to the city each year, and the legislative changes that would require from Government.
“Well, Dublin City Council has been looking at it, but I haven’t heard any demands from Galway yet,” he said. “Government can change legislation to facilitate [local authorities] to facilitate that, but remember: there are already significant taxes across the board,” he said, adding that a cut in VAT to nine per cent for hospitality businesses from July might be particularly beneficial for students and young people employed in the sector across the west.
In fact, after incremental increases over the past two years, Martin seemed lukewarm on Galway city receiving any extra funding at all, despite its council providing roads, sanitation and a host of other essential services for millions of people who do not live in the regional capital, where 20 per cent of Local Property Taxes raised are spent in other local authority areas.
“We have a national system, and I would say that the bulk goes back into the locality, and that’s how it should be,” he said, adding that counties such as Leitrim do not have the industrial and commercial rates payers of Dublin, Cork or Galway. “Look, there’s a balance to be struck here. And we have to have some national framework on how regions develop.”
What Martin is prepared to allocate, is central government funding for transport infrastructure, especially as the Galway city ringroad now has a greenlight from An Coimisiún Pleanála.
He said his officials are looking at progressing a light rail preferred route study for Galway city after a sufficient public consultation period – likely to be at least 18 months – and tying in bus and rail options across the county as part of the delayed Galway Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (GMATS ).
“It must look at how the roads, and the buses, connect with rail and light rail, so they all have to come in sync. And that’s why there has been that delay in Galway. We now have the planning permission through, and – please God – we can get ahead of it,” he says.
Itching to get back canvassing, Martin has sage advice for young Councillor Keane before they head off to rap on more unsuspecting Galway West doors, out near Ballycuirke.
“I remember I was at very long odds for my first election, and the bookies were completely wrong. Although it was never ten-to-one against or anything…” he trails off.
Paddy Power has Keane at exactly 10-1 at time of going to press.
Government candidates rarely do well in by-elections, and the hard-working young farmer will have to knock on a lot more doors between now and Friday fortnight to bring those odds down, with or without a taoiseach in tow.
