*Cllr Michael Begley (IND) with Deputy Cathal Crowe (FF). Photograph: Eamon Ward
INDEPENDENTS don’t carry “any significant clout in politics,” Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) has claimed.
Would the Mid-West be better off electing four Independent TDs in Clare, Tipperary, Limerick City and Limerick County to provide a significant voting block in Dáil Éireann was a question for the Deputy from a reader of The Clare Echo. The consistent poor performances of University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and Shannon Airport’s overlooking were also referenced.
It prompted Deputy Crowe to criticise the performance of Independent TDs in the Dáil. “I don’t believe Independents carry any significant clout in politics, the more I see of it in the Dáil I think they have the easiest gig in town because they can decide on a whim if they are for or against something yet they have no governing responsibility, it’s not within the remit of an Independent to govern unless they are signed up to a coalition”.
He added, “I think within a party you have major clout, major say and major access to Ministers that an Independent wouldn’t necessarily have, I would like the Mid-West and particularly Clare to have a Minister, I would like to serve as a Minister myself some day, I think when you have a Minister the voice of a region gets volumized, we could have done with some extra volume in the last three years on major issues, hopefully there will come a day when I or somebody will serve in the ranks of ministerial office, I don’t accept the suggestion that an Independent could solve everything”.
The Clare Echo pointed then referenced the Gregory deal as an example of the influence Independent TDs can have in Irish politics. Tony Gregory (IND), the former Dublin Central TD achieved national prominence in February 1982 with the deal estimated to be worth £100m at the time, in return for supporting Haughey as Taoiseach, Gregory was guaranteed a massive cash injection for his inner-city Dublin constituency, an area beset by poverty and neglect.
Deputy Crowe acknowledged that the influence of Independent TDs grows if they can broker a deal in forming a Government. “If an Independent comes into Government they have immense power but Independents who flip flop on votes each Wednesday night, decide positions on a whim or interrupt votes I don’t think they carry any clout in the 33rd Dáil where the Government is not propped up by Independents. I’m very respectful of their role, I get on very well with Michael McNamara and Violet-Anne Wynne”.
