Davis gets in swing of things but new dark horse is waltzing off with votes

WHEN THE “Undertakers’ Song” struck up they piled onto the dancefloor. It was three in the afternoon and the party was in full swing. “Oh, we’re goin’ out the same way we came in. Doesn’t matter who you know or where you’ve been . . .” This was positivity in action, going forward.

And back, and with a swing to the left and a swing to the right and a little bitty shimmy in between (arthritis willing).

We were in the Summerhill Community Centre in Co Meath, where the jiving Third Agers were getting on with the job of “empowering” themselves, the way they were doing before the seven concerned candidates arrived and they way they’ll be doing when all the fuss dies down.

The Third Age Foundation was established by local woman Mary Nally, who founded a local and national network aimed at improving the lot of older people by showing how much they have to offer to their wider community.

There’s the senior helpline, the men’s shed, the nutrition programme, the knitting bus, the Fáilte Isteach integration programme for migrants and, of course, rip-roaring social afternoons in Summerhill.

It’s surprising that Mary Davis was the first of the caring candidates to pay a call. But she has a long association with Mary Nally. “For many years she’s given us the use of her boardroom for our meetings,” Mary N told the 250 people at yesterday’s afternoon dinner and dance.

Mary D was well received by the 250-strong crowd and she addressed them during a break in Susan McCann’s set, before the popular old-time waltz medley.

Her campaign team circulated with their leaflets and stickers and big tubs of lollipops for them to bring home to the grandchildren.

What, apart from the speech, Davis was able to communicate to the people she spoke to is anyone’s guess. Susan McCann, a vision in black chiffon and glittering diamantes, was belting out the numbers at full blast. Conversation wasn’t easy.

But at least the candidate was out there and visible. Women were very much in the majority – as is the usually the case where older people are concerned at these functions – and when Mary Nally name-checked Mary Davis’s husband Julian, her audience swung around to get look at him.

“Oooh, is that him? He’s lovely, a fine big man.”

Then the jiving started. Those who didn’t want to walk to the top of the hall danced at the back. Chris, Joan and Phyllis from Julianstown took to some line-dancing in the aisle. Vera Canning sat it out and told us she would vote for Mary. “I just like her, she seems a lovely person and I think women do better in that job.” But Joan O’Grady, having stepped her way through Ring of Fire disagreed. “I’m voting for Seán Gallagher because he’s the future and he isn’t throwing mud like the rest of them.”

This was a theme that continued on to Navan. When this election campaign began, Mary Davis was seen as the dark horse. Seán Gallagher, another candidate who trades on his credentials as a worker in the community, wasn’t in the frame.

It’s all changed now and one gets the impression from the Davis team they aren’t entirely sure how they seem to have been left behind as also-rans. There is a feeling that their woman was “taken out” early on when she was dubbed the “Quango Queen”.

She has never really recovered from that, although, given her track record in Special Olympics, it is not at all unusual she should have been asked onto the boards.

As she works the Navan shopping centre, Davis listens and has time for the people she meets. But there is a diffidence about her which is not suited to the heat of an election campaign.

A politically savvy campaigner would have been able to counter the problems, such as discussions about THAT poster. Instead, one gets the impression that, underneath the smiles, she is a little hurt by it all.

All the metal bins in the centre have posters of Gallagher on them – they don’t come cheap. Her team members look icily at them. Gallagher has made a virtue of not putting posters on lampposts and has earned kudos for this.

Word comes through he has cancelled his engagements in Dublin because the TG4 debate in Galway ran late. It’s noted this didn’t stop Mary from fulfilling her engagements in Meath.

They press on. She chats to Mark O’Brien (14) from Moynalty, who interviews her for his school magazine. “I like the way she gave lots of time to talk to him,” says his mother.

On the way out from Tesco, John Ryan from Dublin approaches. “You’re flogging a dead horse – it must be heartbreaking,” he remarks.

John tells us that Gallagher is “going to clean” up in the Border counties. We detect a note of sympathy for Davis. Will he be voting for her? “I’m voting for Gallagher because he’s new.” What about his Fianna Fáil connection? “Sure which one of us isn’t tainted in some way by what we did in our past?”

It’s Julian’s birthday and Mary is heading back to Dublin.

The dark horse, overtaken by a darker stallion.