Hospital action candidate poses new threat

An independent representing Roscommon's Hospital Action Committee has become the latest election candidate to pose a serious …

An independent representing Roscommon's Hospital Action Committee has become the latest election candidate to pose a serious challenge to the main parties in the west.

Una Quinn, who is hoping to win back the seat lost by the late Tom Foxe at the last election, this week agreed a common policy platform with Marian Harkin in Sligo-Leitrim, who is expected to win a seat, and Mayo's Dr Jerry Cowley. The three said that if elected they would work together to improve infrastructure in the west, a stance that can only help each of them.

A change in the status quo in the Roscommon-Longford constituency of two seats each for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would be a surprise, but even political opponents are accepting that Ms Quinn will mount at least a respectable challenge.

Her family has long been associated with the hospital issue in Roscommon. Her mother, Eithne Quinn, was the first Dáil candidate put forward by the Hospital Action Committee, when she stood in 1987. She wasn't elected, but two years later Tom Foxe took the seat, which he held for two terms. Mrs Quinn was also the first woman to chair Roscommon County Council.

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This is Una Quinn's first foray into politics. Aged 34, she has a background in community and development work, having graduated from NUI Galway, and has worked in a number of different western counties.

She now works full-time for Roscommon County Council and has already taken holidays from her job to start canvassing. She has started door-to-door campaigning and has opened an office in Roscommon's Main Street.

Unlike many Independents, she has the advantage of an organisation behind her in the Hospital Action Committee. It has two councillors out of 26 on the county council, and she says they have 200 active supporters on their database.

She says she decided to stand because her area is badly served by its elected representatives and she feels she has an obligation to do something.

While she is standing as a Hospital Action Committee candidate, and a large part of her manifesto relates to health issues, she is also putting emphasis on general western development issues, taking a very similar stance to Marian Harkin.

She is involved in a new West Infrastructure Now (WIN) campaign, led by the Council for the West. She says she has had a number of meetings with Marian Harkin and Jerry Cowley and that they will be having ongoing discussions in the run-up to the election. While they are not considering forming a party, they share a lot of common issues and have "a working arrangement".

They have agreed that, if elected, they will work together to ensure these issues are delivered for the west. Some joint press statements may be issued, but each is concentrating on their individual campaigns.

She says she believes Tom Foxe lost in 1997 because people were led to believe both that his seat was safe and that the hospital issue was not as critical.

He got more than 4,000 first-preference votes when the quota was over 9,000. She knows that she needs at least 4,500 at the first count to keep in the running for the fourth seat.

"I am not foolish enough to believe this is going to be easy, but our aim is to win a seat. It will not be enough just to do well." She insists the hospital issue is still as important as ever. While some €8.5 million has been sanctioned, no work has started on projects announced years ago. A new A&E department, an upgrade of the theatres and an upgrade of St Coman's ward have all been promised.

She says people are getting worried about the delays. "We were told 2½ years ago that the A&E would be finished by Easter 2002, but work hasn't even started," she says. She also wants a new psychiatric wing to compensate for the 30 medical beds lost when the psychiatric hospital in Castlerea closed eight years ago. Such a unit was promised then, she says.

"People accept that they will have to travel for specialist services such as cancer treatment, but all we want is a hospital to provide basic health services in acceptable conditions," she says.

In each of the issues she is campaigning on, all the people of the west want is their fair share, she argues. Her manifesto points out that Roscommon got less than 1 per cent of State-assisted jobs between 1999 and 2000. She has also taken up the point highlighted by the Western Development Commission that the €952million needed for vital infrastructure in the west is only a tenth of the proposed spending on the Dublin underground train system.

She is also campaigning on environmental issues, opposing incineration and superdumps.

Roscommon-Longford will see new faces after the election, with the departure of two senior Fianna Fáil TDs, Albert Reynolds and Sean Doherty. Senator Michael Finneran of Fianna Fáil is expected to top the poll, and in Longord Peter Kelly will take most of Mr Reynolds's vote. Fine Gael Senator John Connor from Roscommon is expected to poll well but if he were to take a seat it would be at the expense of one of his two sitting party colleagues, Denis Naughten or Louis Belton.

While Una Quinn would be expected to receive transfers from a number of other Independents in the field, it will be vital for her to secure a good vote in a wider area from her base in Roscommon.

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