*Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) shows his election wounds.
A SLIP of the tongue can be very damaging for a politician when it comes to an election campaign but so too can a sliding ladder as one political figure discovered in Co Clare recently.
Ballot Beats is The Clare Echo’s new daily General Election (GE24) update where we will have observations on the campaigning and issues of the day impact on candidates in Co Clare.
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It was the foggiest canvass of the campaign so far for candidates meaning no doubt there was references of “will ye come out of the fog” by critics of respective candidates on the ballot.
Details of a near-miss involving Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) when erecting election posters in Clarecastle came to light at Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council. The Kildsysart native was holding a ladder for Liam Daly when the safety pin of the ladder moved and a guillotine effect followed with Cllr O’Callaghan very lucky not to lose his fingers, he did experience substantial pain but the main thing for outgoing TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) is that the posters went up and no fingers were lost in the process.
O’Callaghan’s pain didn’t gain much sympathy from fellow Clarecastle resident, Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle. “Could we extend the remit of members training on how to hold a ladder and how not to hold a ladder,” he quipped when the election was brought up at the Council meeting.
Three of the GE24 candidates, Cllr Rita McInerney (FF), Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) and Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) were raising numerous issues at this sitting including housing, dereliction, a designated marine area plan and the need for Active Travel in rural areas. McInerney chaired the budgetary meeting of the West Clare Municipal District earlier in the day while Cllr McGettigan was in the capital as Sinn Féin held a special event with their new candidates in the field and finished the evening with an Ennis canvass.
No poster injuries were recorded by the team of June Dillon (AON) who were battling the fog as they erected posters across Ennis on Monday evening.
One message learned by Hilary Tonge (SD) on the canvass was that “housing affects everyone” from the young to the elderly as one woman raised the struggles of trying to downsize.
Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) continues his battle with the poster vandals in what he has labelled “a campaign of intimidation”.
Dr Tom Nolan (FG) brought his campaign to his hometown of Kilkee while Ennis was the location of Leonora Carey (FG) during her Monday evening canvass.
Amanda Major (IND) was among the hundreds of people to check out the new Ennis library on Causeway Link during its first day of operations. Both the Ennis woman and Matthew Moroney (IND) are taking a similar social media approach where they share particular posts into dozens of Facebook groups simultaneously, a tactic done by Government TDs typically when announcing funding but for Major and Moroney it could anything, it could simply be a trip to the library or criticism of Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan (GP).
Outgoing TD, Violet-Anne Wynne (IND) was among those to encourage the public to register to vote before the deadline of Tuesday. “You need to exercise your voice by using your vote,” she said.
Young people were encouraged by Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) to check the register, “use your voice use your vote,” she stated.
Clare’s ballot paper will also include Kevin Hassett (IND), Michael Leahy (IFP), Michael Loughrey (IP), Paddy Murphy (IND), Catriona Ni Chatháin (SOC) and Eddie Punch (II).
