BONFIRES burned in the hills of Donegal as Thomas Gildea's victory cavalcade arrived in his home town of Glenties, in the wee small hours of yesterday morning.
Traditional musician Vincent Campbell lifted his fiddle and danced on the main street as he played a tune. A large crowd cheered their new TD, who upset all the predictions in the most predictable of constituencies.
Mr Gildea stood on a TV deflector ticket and was swept into the Dail by a populist surge that continued to swell in Donegal yesterday, as supporters arrived to congratulate their hero at his campaign headquarters in Ardara.
The celebrations also continued in Glenties, where local poet Leo McLoone regaled the lunchtime crowd in the Highlands Hotel with a rendition of the campaign song he wrote: "In the year 88/Ray Burke we do hate/He made our wee system illegal," he sang. "All over the west/At the Government's request/Deflectors, they had to come down." There was sartorial advice, too ... or the new TD. And now that it's over/Tom, take off your pullover/Put on your collar and tie/Goodbye to, the wellies /You've joined the Big Bellies/You have beaten them all." Mr Gildea, meanwhile, was keeping his cards close to his chest. Asked about his preference for Taoiseach, he said he had an "open mind".
His demands - "You, can call it a shopping list, if you like" - would include action on a range of issues of concern to his constituents, such as poor infrastructure and the high levels of unemployment and emigration in the area.
He attributed his victory primarily to the depth of feeling over the MMDS issue, but said he had also be fitted from a deep level of dissatisfaction with mainstream politicians.
He would consult his campaign team over the next 48 hours before setting out his stall. He denied he would naturally be more inclined to support Fianna Fail, given that much of his support base had been Fianna Fail voters in the past. "While this area would have a strong Fianna Fail tendency, I took my vote for the anti MMDS campaign from across the political spectrum," he said, A native Irish speaker, Mr Gildea comes from a farming back ground and lives on a 30 acre moorland farm two miles outside Glenties. He said he had bad no prior political affiliations, but would favour those who supported small farmers during these difficult times.
"I feel that as a low income person myself, I would have a much greater understanding of these problems than the salaried professional personnel who represent the major political parties." He said the planned introduction of deflect or licences, announced by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, did not recognise the particular needs of Donegal groups. They would lead to punitive licence changes on the many small deflector groups in the county.
Donegal is a special case and that fact has not be en addressed by Minister Dukes. The fact of the matter is that southwest Donegal would have something like 60 small deflector systems. The nature of the terrain is such that we must have that multiplicity of small deflector to serve the remote valleys that you find in Donegal.
Health was also a concern of those who voted for him, Mr Gildea said, "We are opposed to MMDS on two grounds: the economic impact that it would have and, the potential health hazard that it could cause.
The blanket bombardment of an entire countryside by microwave radiation for the purpose of transmitting television picture, is totally unacceptable to the population of this constituency."