*Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) and Dr Tom Nolan (FG).
‘POLE POLE’ pronounced poley poley is Swahili for slowly, it’s a phrase etched in the minds of those who climb Kilimanjaro, Dr Tom Nolan (FG) is one of them and he’s reminded of the expression on the canvass.
Granted Dr Nolan would have preferred smoother terrain on an election footing than to have been announced as Fine Gael’s second candidate only to have been blindsided by Cllr Joe Cooney’s decision to re-enter the field, a mere ten hours after the GP was added to the ticket.
In Quilty on Saturday morning, the effects of Storm Bert leave a mark on his canvassing team. Cllr Gabriel Keating’s (FG) 242 stylish Audi gets stuck in the floods and requires a local operation to rescue the Cross native who was stranded close to sea but on land. “It was worth getting wet to get Tom elected,” Keating told The Clare Echo.
A short but intensive election campaign reminds Nolan of trekking Kilimanjaro in 2008 over seven days, “it taught me patience,” he admitted. “Pole pole” is the saying of the locals urging people to go slowly, he said he followed their advice and it’s why he finished the climb when many of his younger counterparts were unable to scale the summit.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself, there is no easy answers, you can’t lie to people,” he said of his campaign which began on November 3rd. “It is frustrating to miss people at the doors because I like to engage and discuss the issues”.
Family members form part of Tom’s team for the early Saturday morning canvass with Dr Billy O’Connell a familiar and friendly face to locals while former TD Madeline Taylor Quinn (FG) directed operations both on the canvass and in retrieving a stranded Cllr Keating.
Health is cropping up on the doors frequently and why wouldn’t it be with two of West Clare’s most respected doctors knocking on the doors. “Our biggest project is to get Ennis hospital reopened,” Dr O’Connell said of their hope to reinstate it to a model three hospital. He warned that the huge waiting lists for nursing homes across the county is going to become a big issue.
A woman in her sixties tells Dr Nolan health services for West Clare “are badly needed” when pointing out the ongoing difficulties at University Hospital Limerick. He assured her that his “main focus” in the campaign is indeed on health services and the interaction looks like a positive omen for a number one vote.
“You cured me,” is the reaction when the next door opens in what is a guaranteed first preference. The struggles for cancer patients are discussed as a family member is currently receiving treatment and dealing with plenty medical costs.
Plans to go fishing are discussed with one of Dr Nolan’s former patients. “I’ll look after this man,” says the West Clare man to which Tom responds, “and please look after yourself” while enquiring on his current health status.
When questioned on his background and his plans by a young woman, Tom outlined, “I’m canvassing for better acute services, this is meant to be why Fine Gael want me on the ticket to help them secure better health services”.
His forty years practicing as a GP in the area are mentioned as he pointed out, “we need all the number one votes we can get in West Clare”.
As they cross into Mullagh, a reunion of the team doctor of the 1992 Clare team to win the Munster senior football championship and the RTÉ commentator behind the famous line from the day about cows in West Clare not getting milked for a week is not meant to be as there’s no answer when they arrive to the residence of Marty Morrissey.
It’s been an educational campaign for Dr Nolan, following the pole pole philosophy has kept him composed even when Fine Gael headquarters may have tested his patience to the nth degree but he’s been reinvigorated by another attempt to restore services to Ennis Hospital.
