*Cllr Rita McInerney (FF). Photograph: Eugene McCafferty
WEST CLARE’s desire to get a TD in the Dáil and potentially in Government is boosting the chances of Cllr Rita McInerney (FF).
Having been an underdog in the local elections in a highly competitive Kilrush local electoral area, Cllr McInerney ended up topping the poll in a tremendous performance which saw her yield 1,340 votes.
Spurred on by this showing, she has defied the advice of some of her key political mentors and opted to once again contest the General Election but Rita felt she owed it to the people of West Clare to try give them a voice in Dáil Éireann. Those suggesting she hold off, “a minority” in her words were of the view that she should build up more experience on the Council before running in four or five years.
She told The Clare Echo, “There was a variety of opinions within the party, I had people ringing me saying ‘you have to run, it’s wide open’, me in my heart and in my gut I would never have forgiven myself if I didn’t run this time because I feel so strongly that the West and North of the county have representation, we all talk about what they should do, they should do this and that, unless you’re willing to stick your colours to the mast, put your name forward, put your head above the parapet and be seen to want to represent and work for the people, how can you complain, how could I sit back and give about those projects not coming to West and North Clare if I’m not prepared to do it myself”.
McInerney added, “I’m very well placed, I’m active and healthy we don’t know what the next day will bring, I value my health and your health is your wealth because I’ve gone through my own health situations during the last few years, I know what it is to be healthy and be able-bodied to do something unlike a lot of people in our society so I’m privileged with a great team and family around me, I’m more stable from my own work point of view so the time is now, carpe diem as they say”.
Employing twelve to fifteen people at her shop in Doonbeg, Rita said the business developed during COVID which has left her in a more stable position to try win a seat in Dáil Éireann. “The local shop is the heart of a lot of communities and I’m blessed and privileged to be part of a community and to be able to have a service, employing twelve to fifteen people part and full-time, being able to be that resource, that became very evident during COVID”.
Fianna Fáil have the same General Election ticket as 2020, Rita polled 4,136 votes on that occasion, her transfers of 1,281 to Cathal Crowe (FF) helped him win a seat while 1,163 of her votes went to Senator Timmy Dooley (FF).
Prior to the 2020 election, she opened a constituency office in Kilrush and there was plenty of learnings from the campaign. “When I walked into the count centre in Ennistymon I was approached by members of the media who said ‘God Rita you did very well for someone who wasn’t supported by the party’. That set me back a bit, I was like oh really, maybe I was a bit naïve and so gung-ho. The learnings from that race was that there was certainly an appetite for change and I was delighted with the change but kind of an oxymoron, it’s like reliable change if you like, change within so you had a new take and a new angle with a fresh approach, that was what I took from it. I was pleased with the votes I got given that I wasn’t a councillor, I hadn’t ran before, I wasn’t surprised but I was pleased with the first preferences, obviously I would have liked to got more over the line, maybe the whole country was taken by surprise with the Sinn Féin vote so the Sinn Féin vote were the learnings”.
She added, “I’m a person that takes responsibility for my own campaign, my own team, I would never blame anyone else for not succeeding or not getting over the line. In a way it is like being self-employed, politicians are all self-employed, it is a very unique relationship in that you have a team but you have to work outside the team as well. It is about you putting yourself forward and giving the members within the party the opportunity to support you if you are seen to work and seen to be somebody who represents the people well at a national level, you have to prove yourself ultimately, to the members within Fianna Fáil and to the electorate, it was a learning and I see the campaign in 2020 as part of my journey, there are many famous politicians defeated many times including Churchill and Thatcher, even the late Mary O’Rourke told me the stories of her strive for election and her defeats, she would have encouraged me always to keep going so it would never deter me. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, nothing is a failure if you learn and I certainly learned from it. So I learned that if I wasn’t getting the support from the party, who’s fault is that? It’s my own because I obviously haven’t proven myself enough to the members to say everyone get behind me or enough people get behind me within the electorate, I learned I had to prove myself”.
Financially she felt she didn’t receive enough support as her colleagues five years ago. “You won’t receive if you don’t ask so again that was part of what I learned from the campaign, you need to be asking, you don’t need to be demanding but you need to be asking”.
Issues such as housing, healthcare, the cost of living have got worse over the five years, she lamented. “I believe I still have a lot to give, I have a lot of energy and drive, I’ve learned a lot over the last four years so I’m a better politician, I will respond and be able to take action, I’ve been involved in more projects from a community level so I feel that I’m ready to take that next step, it is vital”.
This mindset is shared by members of her team, “it is important that whoever represents West Clare is part of a bigger team that can possibly get a Ministry for the county, work in tandem, if you’ve two or three TDs from the one county all working together and singing off the one hymn sheet fighting for what Clare needs, then that is when we see work done. One of my canvassers is prone to saying ‘if we don’t do something we might as well put the gate up in Lissycasey’, West and North of the county is being forgotten about, not purposely but I don’t think there is a cohesive approach in terms of political strength and clout to bring what needs to be brought to these parts of the county, particularly that was evident in the recent capital grants that did not come to Kilkee and Kilrush, if there was a local TD advocating and fighting for that, would the outcome have been different and I think it would have been”.
Coupled with this, she is of the view that the people of West Clare will vote for someone in the area to give them a voice. “I’m told ‘you’re one of our own, West Clare needs a voice, we’re badly represented back here, we have to do something’, they are the things I’m hearing back on the door, yes vote for a West Clare candidate but vote for one which is part of a larger team that will enable things to get done because I will have back-up and a team in the county which is part of Government and will bring projects and funding and resources to Clare, I understand that a lot more with my eleven months on the Council, I understand more about where money is coming from a local authority perspective and where it very much depends on political will and clout, people advocating for projects at a national level, that is what I want to do”.
She is slow to say Fianna Fáil have let West Clare down, “It’s very difficult. This is coming from a time when we had Brendan Daly, Tony Killeen, we had people all over the county, I wouldn’t say my party has let down West Clare, I would say we’ve had a lack of representation within the county”.
However, she does acknowledge successive governments that Fianna Fáil have been a part of have not helped West Clare. “The hospital would be one of those, it was a mistake and it needs to be rectified, West Clare feels that as much if not more than other parts of Clare which are closer to UHL, we need to address the health situation otherwise we are living in a death zone as two of my elderly constituents put to me, there is no talk of a golden hour when it comes to the hospital anymore, I’ve had two cases of people waiting four and six hours respectively for an ambulance in the last year, something has to be done to ensure we have access to emergency medical care”.
In 2015, she left her role as CEO of Ennis Chamber to begin a Masters in Politics at the University of Limerick. She is not afraid to say the Ennis 2040 strategy “didn’t bring the business community with them enough, there’s different views within the business community. It all comes back to communication, business moves so fast and changes so fast, it did particularly during COVID, the consultations done in the early stage were mute by the time it got to after COVID because the business model is changing constantly, Ireland is the highest rate of online sales in Europe”. A transition fund may have helped businesses in the town centre cope during the reduction in trade experienced during the ongoing €11.5m public realm works, she suggested.
When asked if a Seanad nomination may be on the horizon, Rita outlined, “I’m focusing on being a TD for West Clare, that is not something I am considering at the moment, people might think there is a deal going on and there are negotiations but there’s not. This is completely and utterly my focus, a TD is what West Clare needs, we have fine Senators in the West and North of the county as well as other parts of the county but I believe for West Clare it is strength that it needs, it needs a TD, we’ve had Senators”.
