On the canvass with John (Porridge) O'Connor: One voter said the Fine Gael candidate should use the slogan 'Porridge, the Healthy Option', writes MAURICE NELIGAN
LOCAL DEMOCRACY is thriving in South Kerry. Nobody could be unaware that an election is imminent. Posters of every size shape and form vie for the voters attention.
Just how much attention, we shall have to wait and see.
On a bright and beautiful day, Councillor John (Porridge) O’Connor is canvassing areas around Killorglin, his home town. The Fine Gael man is seeking to retain his seat on Kerry County Council and is gently reminding the electorate of all that he has accomplished and is waiting to accomplish, if the voters have the sagacity not to interrupt his work.
Nothing apparently is beyond his powers, ranging from fixing the bridge over the Laune, leading into the town, to providing a graveyard for Cromane, which apparently is the only church and townland to lack this amenity. The possibility of public-private partnership is mooted. There’s an investment opportunity for you.
Needless to say Cromane pier features, as in every election since the 1880s. We are also to have the first pothole-free area in Ireland and the problems of the salmon fishermen and the mussel industry will be sorted. There is only one proviso; Porridge must be re-elected and then he’ll set to work in earnest with his wand.
One voter suggested to him that he should adopt the slogan “Porridge, the Healthy Option” and had it been suggested earlier in the campaign, there is little doubt it would now be confronting us from multiple prominent positions in this brightly postered area. As it is, you could not possibly miss Porridge anywhere in this environment. Not that you ever could, election or not.
There was no opportunity to be carried in his pink campaign bus, which was busy elsewhere, and I had to be content with a car containing the candidate and Jimmy, who added a wealth of detail to the progress, like how every member of various households had voted since the foundation of the State.
I ventured to suggest that if such information was accurate that there might be houses that could be bypassed. This was dismissed out of hand and things like number twos and even threes came into play. The worst grade apparently was “I’ll remember you somewhere”.
So we went everywhere. The reception was uniformly courteous and the voters were focused and well informed. Roads, employment, the state of the fisheries and the mussel industry and all sorts of farming issues were the main concerns.
The possibility of Tralee hospital losing its acute services was greeted with frank disbelief and anger. There was a general feeling that the further you were from the corridors of power, the more likely you were to be ignored. Occasionally the candidate withdrew with the householder to discuss some problem of deep importance, prompting the appearance of pencil and paper. And yes; planning in the countryside was an issue that clearly showed the divide between the centre and the periphery.
Johnny is an astute politician and he knows his area and its problems very well. He knows where scarce money could be saved or better spent. His canvass was thorough and he came across as somebody who would not disappear as soon as the votes were counted.
All the usual parties are doing their thing. The people are spoiled for choice. There is even a flat capped tweedy-looking fellow here with a double-barrelled name. I suppose he must come from the old ascendancy, and by all accounts he’s a fair vote getter.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon and columnist with
Irish Times
HealthPlus.