COUNCIL PROFILE: CAVAN:CAVAN PEOPLE signalled their unwillingness to be taken for granted when they voted four so-called "pothole" candidates into office.
It has been 18 years since the Cavan Road Action Group confounded the derision of the established parties by returning all of its candidates to the county council where they fought a long battle to fix the roads which ended up in the Supreme Court.
A total of €360 million has been spent on Cavan roads since then, but the issue has been revived by the fact that the local council announced a €5 million cut in the road budget for this year.
The announcement last month was greeted with incredulity by councillors. Investment has neutralised the issue somewhat, but it is now likely to live again at this election, especially in the east of the county where the roads are worst.
The shelving of plans to bypass Virginia and Beltubrid and the failure to extend the M3 into the county has added to the sense of grievance.
Other issues are the status of Cavan General Hospital, which will now take acute services from Monaghan, the lack of schools in the east of the county, the dire lack of broadband and the extension of the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell canal.
However, the economy is the dominant consideration.
Cavan has been hit particularly hard by cross-Border shopping. There are now 7,000 people on the dole, twice the number of a year ago, though there is also a problem of welfare shopping from Northern Ireland.
In 2004, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both returned 11 councillors and Sinn Féin returned three, including Pauline Tully- McCauley who is the wife of Pearse McCauley – one of the men convicted over the 1996 IRA killing of Garda Jerry McCabe. No other party got a look in.
In the present national climate Fine Gael has real designs on getting a majority in the council. Yet some believe it has overextended itself, putting two extra candidates into each of the four electoral areas.
The resignation of members in Bailieborough in protest at the imposition of candidates from head-office shows all is not well.
Voters are expected to vote for the candidates they know rather than their party affiliations, but it is unlikely Fianna Fáil candidates will be able to escape the backlash.
The Green Party is fielding a strong candidate in the Bailieborough electoral area – Estonian-born Russian citizen Alex Peter Ivanov, who claims to be a distant descendant of Genghis Khan.
He could attract a lot of support from eastern Europeans living in the county, and says the issue of over-development, an acute problem in Cavan, is playing well on the doorsteps.
During the Celtic Tiger years Cavan became part of the greater Dublin commuter belt.
Towns like Virginia, Ballyjamesduff and Mullagh have increased dramatically in population.
There is a need for new school buildings in both Mullagh and Virginia as the children of commuters filter through the system.
“People see the great improvement in the locality. There are new playgrounds, new schools and upgrades to different facilities,” said Fianna Fáil local councillor Shane O’Reilly, who is not afraid of his party affiliations. “I’m not a hypocrite. I’m standing on my record.”
Veteran Fine Gael councillor Andrew Boylan, who has been a member of the council for 35 years, said the big issue was jobs.
“In my years in politics I’ve never seen such anger,”he said.
Share of vote 2004
FF41%
FG44%
Lab1%
SF12%
Others2%
How they stand (Outgoing)
FF11
FG11
SF3
Others3
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