Campaign Watch »

• It’s all over bar the shouting

  June 9, 2009 @ 10:09 am | by Kilian Doyle

  For the past month, this blog has been tracking the mad, bad and sad antics of election candidates across the spectrum. And now it’s all over. We feel empty, deflated and at a loss.

  Yeah, right. We’re glad it’s all over. For a few months, at least.

  Thanks to all for the contributions, comments and criticisms. Much appreciated.

  Before we go, we got a lot of stick over our earlier posts here and here about the electorate’s supposed propensity to vote for the best-looking candidates, regardless of which party they represented or what their policies were.

  According to an online poll carried out last month, 43 per cent of people believe a candidate’s appearance would influence their decision, with over a third saying they would vote for someone based solely on their attractiveness.

  With that in mind, we thought we’d cast an eye over the bevy of male and female beauties we featured and see how they got on.

  
  Left to right:

  Maria Parodi (Labour): Ran for Dublin City Council. Elected.

  Sarah Ryan (Fianna Fáil): Ran for Dublin City Council. Not elected.

  Toiréasa Ferris (Sinn Féin): Ran for European Parliament. Not elected.

  Clare Byrne (Fine Gael): Ran for Dublin City Council. Elected.

  Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fáil): Ran for Dublin City Council. Not elected.

  

  Left to right:

  John Lyons (Labour): Ran for Dublin City Council. Elected.

  Ross O’Mullane (Independent): Ran in Dublin South byelection. Not elected.

  Hugh Lewis (People Before Profit Alliance): Ran for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Elected.

  Eoghan Murphy (Fine Gael): Ran for Dublin City Council. Elected.

  Ronan Callely (Fianna Fail): Ran for Dublin City Council. Not elected.

  The results: Two of five women and three of five men elected.

  The conclusion: While the results are a tad inconclusive, we’ve decided to assume that the theory that people vote with other bits of their body other than their brains is, like most online polls, a load of nonsense. That’s our faith in humanity restored, so. What a relief.

• A picture tells a thousand words

  June 7, 2009 @ 11:15 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Here’s a selection of yesterday’s photographs of the winners and losers in the local and byelections.

  (All photographs by Irish Times staff unless otherwise indicated.)

  WINNERS

  

  Noel Gregory, a brother of the late Tony Gregory, embraces Dublin Central byelection winner Maureen O’Sullivan at the RDS. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  The Fine Gael Dublin South byelection winner George Lee is raised aloft after he was elected on the first count at the RDS. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  Senator Fiona O’Malley with Independent  candidate Mannix Flynn at the RDS where he was elected to Dublin City Council. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  Labour Dublin City Council election candidate Rebecca Moynihan (centre) is congratulated by supporters. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  Fianna Fail Dublin City Council candidate Mary Fitzpatrick (Cabra Glasnevin) surrounded by supporters in the RDS. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  People Before Profit Alliance local candidates Joan Collins (Crumlin-Kimmage) and Brid Smith (Ballyfermot Drimnagh) following their election at the RDS. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  LOSERS

  

  Unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in Dublin South Shay Brennan does a TV interview at the RDS Count Centre for Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

  F

  Fine Gael Dublin Central candidate Paschal Donohoe celebrates with party leader Enda Kenny in the RDS despite losing the byelection. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  Fianna Fáil’s Maurice Ahern, who lost the Dublin Central byelection and narrowly lost his seat on Dublin City Council, is consoled by Labour’s Eric Byrne, who was elected to the council on the first count. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

  

  Minister of State John Curran goes through the figures during the South Dublin County Council count at the Basketball Arena, Tallaght. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

  

  Green Party leader John Gormley arrives at the RDS count centre yesterday. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

• FF no more? What does it Mather?

  June 5, 2009 @ 10:18 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Michael O’Regan, Parliamentary Correspondent, writes: Stephen Mather had his moment of national fame when he was one of a number of Fianna Fáil activists to stand next to RTÉ political correspondent David Davin-Power on the Nine O’Clock News on a Saturday night last February.

  The occasion was the Fianna Fáil ardfheis and Davin-Power was doing a live interview with newsreader Anne Doyle following Brian Cowen’s speech.

  The Fianna Fáil activists surrounding the RTÉ man attracted considerable comment in Leinster House and elsewhere at the time.

  Mather later became disillusioned with the party’s structures when he failed to get a nomination to contest the Edenderry electoral area in the Offaly county council elections. He resigned from the party and is now running as an Independent.

  Mather, a retail manager, was Fianna Fáil’s Offaly county secretary and was one of the five-man election strategy committee which oversaw the party’s general election campaign in the county, which is part of the Taoiseach’s Laois-Offaly constituency.

  “I was very unhappy with the interview process used to select candidates,’’ he said. “But I remain fully supportive of the Taoiseach and still regard myself as a Fianna Fáil man at heart.’’

  The Davin-Power chorus line was made up of Mather and other Fianna Fáil activists from north Offaly. While it became a Youtube hit at the time, Mather says he did not get much reaction himself. “A few friends recognised me,’’ he said.

  

• Why bother voting?

  June 4, 2009 @ 8:58 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Not everyone with a polling card will be voting tomorrow. Indeed, there are some who believe we shouldn’t be voting at all.

  The Workers Solidarity Movement anarchist group claims that “it is impossible to bring about any meaningful change in society through the electoral process”.

  WSM’s national secretary Gavin Gleeson argues that all the main parties have “identical” economic policies.

  “None of them has any intention of doing anything about the huge gap in wealth. And even those parties on the left who claim to be in favour of wealth redistribution know that it is impossible to do so without a fundamental shift in the power relationships that currently exist,” he argues. “Worldwide, the shots are called by big business and the wealthy elite – and they’re not going to give up their privileged position just because the rest of us vote for them to do so.”

  Do you think the WSM are bonkers conspiracy theorists? Or do they have a point?

  

• Something for (nearly) everyone

  June 3, 2009 @ 3:00 pm | by Kilian Doyle

  Enda Kenny spent much of today’s Fine Gael press conference fending off accusations of flip-flopping over Sinn Féin. Beforehand, he got the chance, uninterrupted, to make his final Big Speech, surrounded by Byelection Big Cheeses.  Statesmanlike? You decide.

  

  Meanwhile, the Labour Party has just posted profiles online of some of their first-time male candidates, after chivalrously, letting the women go first.

  On the Fianna Fáil website, European election candidate Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne – or some flunky purporting to be her – has a new blog post up. She wants to take her “passion for Dublin and its people to Europe”. And leave her lovely pooch behind? Heartless isn’t the word.

  The Green Party had a full page ad in today’s Irish Times – which you can also see here - featuring gushing endorsements from such luminaries as Eddie Hobbs and Darina Allen.

  Pah. That’s the best they can do? Lowly Independent Mannix Flynn has Hollywood star Gabriel Byrne and music legend Christy Moore on his side. Beat that.

  

  Believe it or not, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams is quite the wag on Twitter. His tweets are usually mildly entertaining and a far cry from the usual “I’m at a shopping centre today shaking hands” guff that most candidates post.

  An example: “The sunshine continues. So does the election. Christy Burke has his arm in a sling. Hurt it opening a gate. Anything for a vote.”

  Or what about: “’Down along Thomas Street and by God in a jiffy I had my arms around her beyond in the park’. I sang as we drove along Thomas Street.” Wouldn’t you love to bug that car?

  Follow him here.

  Elsewhere on Twitter, an anonymous poster purporting to be “presiding officer somewhere in the North West” promises they will be posting about their experiences of polling day here. Expect plenty of tweets about “steady flows of voters” and people’s excuses for leaving their polling cards at home throughout the day.

• Bertie dances to a different tune

  @ 9:24 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Our esteemed former taoiseach Bertie Ahern was never renowned for his grasp of grammar. Indeed, he gave George W. Bush a run for his money in terms of mangling the English language.

  It appears little has changed since he trundled off into semi-retirement. He has been shoving leaflets through letterboxes in Dublin Central exhorting punters to vote for Fianna Fail candidates, including his brother Maurice, on Friday.

  As you can see from this leaflet uncovered by Rick O’Shea, not only has he fallen into the “bye-election” trap, but he is under the impression candidates will be dancing for their suppers on June 5th and voters will have to mark their scores on “ballet” papers. Oh dear.

  

  In fairness to Bertie, it’s probably a minion’s fault. Still, that’s not going to stop us from “throwing white elephants and red herrings” about, as he might say himself.

• Online campaigning – a candidate’s view

  June 2, 2009 @ 2:21 pm | by Kilian Doyle

  Stephen O’Shea is a candidate in the Dundrum ward for Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council.

  He started his campaign late, with virtually no budget. As an experiment, he embraced online media, such as his blog, Twitter, Google et al and has erected no posters, preferring to use a Flickr account instead.

  In this post on his blog, he gives a candid critique of the impact of the use of online tools on his election chances.

  He reveals that while his first tentative steps into world of blogging and Tweeting  have been a useful education for him, their impact has been minimal. ”Will I pick up any extra votes? Not enough to justify the effort.”

  In other words, it’s largely been a waste of time. We here are inclined to agree. We’ve said it before, and we’ll no doubt say it again, but there is no substitute for pressing the flesh.

• Green shoots, Green scores

  @ 11:17 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Are we mishearing him, or is Green Party candidate for the ward of Pembroke-Rathmines Dave Robbins telling us his daughter was born in a park?

  We know the Greens like to be earthy, but that’s a bit of a step too far, wouldn’t you agree?

  Seriously though, he seems a decent chap, and, married as we are to an urban farmer, we echo his enthusiastic approach to growing one’s own food, even if he does lay on the self-satisfied Dublin 4-6 “I only feed Siofra and Fiachra organic food from Donnybrook Fair” schtick a bit thick. And he reminds us of Declan Ganley.

  

  campaignwatch@irishtimes.com

• Most unfortunate slogan of the campaign?

  @ 9:06 am | by Kilian Doyle

  Independent Limerick County Council candidate Richie Smith (48) urges the electorate to “cut the bull” in this recent newspaper ad.

  As Limerick Blogger points out, this is a “poor choice of words” considering his conviction earlier this year for cruelty to animals “of the most appalling kind”.

  

  Meanwhile, someone’s been having fun with the world’s cheapest computer graphics programme and a Commodore 64. The results are, predictably, awful.

  

• An example to the big boys (and girls)

  May 30, 2009 @ 11:52 am | by Kilian Doyle

  It’s probably a bit late for candidates to start thinking about campaign videos, but we were really struck by one we found on Irish Election from Lech Szczecinski, an Independent running for Dublin City council in the South-West Inner City ward.

  Using a simple yet engaging concept,  it is an example to all campaigners on limited budgets.  And those swimming in cash too. Lech admits he cannot doorstep 16,000 voters, so this is shot from the doorsteppees point of view.

  He comes across as personable, intelligent, likeable and trustworthy. We don’t know anything about his former life in Poland, but he reminds us of a geography teacher we had in school who managed to make karst, moraines and oxbow lakes sound like the most fascinating things on earth.

  The iffy Eurotrance soundtrack spoils it a bit, and Lech gets a tad carried away with  the cheesy graphics at the end, but you can’t have everything.

  

  Lech makes the point that some 10 per cent of Ireland’s residents are non-nationals. As Ruadhán Mac Cormaic writes in The Irish Times today, immigrants are beginning to make their political mark on the Irish landscape. He notes that this year, more than 40 foreign candidates from some 13 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US are standing, 30 of whom were selected by the main parties (only Sinn Féin has none).

  So, do you think immigrant voters could upset long-standing voting patterns? And have the main political parties done enough to address their concerns and tap into this demographic?

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