*Eddie Punch
PROBLEMS in the health services which have been visible for over a decade and declining rural services crop up for Eddie Punch (II) as he puts forward the case for electing an Independent TD with bargaining power.
Fresh from attending the Clare Leader Forum hustings on Monday, Eddie arrives in Kildysart with an enthusiastic crew of half a dozen canvassers. “Ye were sheep farmers and have cattle now,” he points out to one man who stops to chat with the assembled team before heading on their separate routes.
Press and communications manager with the ICSA, Neassa Fitzgibbon is among his canvassers for the day. The Carlow native believed Eddie would serve as a very strong voice for farmers in the Dáil.
“I thought you were taller,” remarks the first business man that Punch comes across. “Charlie Haughey wasn’t too tall,” says the Cratloe man.
Back to the more important matters, “business isn’t what is used to be in Kildysart” and the consequence has been felt since the closure of the bank in 2014. “It went from being a small town to a village, dropped from five days to three day a week in 2009, it was ok and we were managing, we didn’t miss the two days, closed in 2014 and within a month my Mondays halved in turnover”.
Residents of Cranny, Coolmeen and Kilmurry McMahon would have made transactions at the bank and while in the locality made purchases in local shops but that trade has disappeared. “It’s the same with the post offices,” noted Eddie of the impact of their closure.
This prompts the fear of the business man that the current post mistress won’t be replaced, “they won’t consider giving it to someone else in a place like this or Labasheeda”.
At Fitzgibbon Butchers, Tommy confirms that steak and mince are “selling best” in Kildysart. “The days of buying a load of meat and putting it in a pot is gone,” he said.
Along main street in Kildysart, Eddie points out a trend noticeable across villages in Clare, “what you’ll find is a lot of closed businesses on main street”.
“It’s cold for ye,” remarks one woman queuing in the post office. While behind the counter, Eileen gets Eddie to sign a document pledging his support for postmasters which he is happy to do, “we’re hoping to get ten to twelve TDs elected” and in the process create a voting block or a cohort with enough numbers to potentially prop up a Government.
He recalled, “Back in Cratloe we had a post office problem and we had a fight to hold onto it but we did”. During his time as General Secretary of the ICSA, he said he worked with postmasters and their cause is something he is familiar with. “We have had loads of canvassers,” Eileen tells him and he replies, “well you know what I’m about”.
A missing letter from a sign aboard a shop prompts Punch to issue an election promise before entering the premises where he says he’ll get the absent part of the sign if he becomes a TD.
“He stood for Europe,” Chairperson of the Clare branch of the ICMSA Martin McMahon, a vital member of Punch’s canvassing team outlines as they enter the next premises. “There is a lot of those in it,” says the less than enthused man behind the till.
McMahon’s pitch is more well received at the next stop, “he is hoping to make some bit of a change and rattle them up”. The business owner admits, “I’ve seen your poster” to which Punch interjects “well here I am and now you see me”. Providing support for small businesses is one of his aims, “I have opposed bureaucracy in Europe and I know how it impacts ye with paperwork. The experience of working in a business sector is useful to have and we need more people with this background in the Dáil”.
On the doors, Eddie prefers to take time to discuss issues in the hope that “meaningful engagement” will result in first preference votes.
Best wishes are voiced at the doors as Punch’s team underline, “he is a very good speaker and a very good communicator”.
As the rain begins to pelt down, umbrellas are fetched for. Issues on health are raised at the door step with a woman revealing that she waited three hours for an ambulance which never arrived and subsequently a loved one spent 25 hours on a chair in Galway, the wait of such a length in Galway as opposed to Limerick surprises Eddie.
On health, he said that people are being mixed in with other individuals in corridors that they shouldn’t be. “The problems have been there for ten years, it is not working”.
Trying to take a swing at fixing the problems is Punch who is viewed as the strongest Independent in the field.
