Greens hope for election breakthrough

PRESSURE on the Green Party to deliver and take seats in Wicklow has never been more intense.

The sprawling constituency, which has been plagued by problems with illegal dumping as well as a lack of recycling facilities, is seen very much as a test constituency by senior Green Party members.

Among the key candidates tipped to take a seat is Deirdre De Burca, a seasoned campaigner with the party.

She’s single, has no children and left her job as a psychologist to work as a part-time political researcher and part-time public representative with the Green Party.

“It’s my second time out. I ran in 1999 for both Bray Town Council and Wicklow County Council. I got 702 first preference votes for the county council representing Bray, but got eliminated quite early in the Town Council election, much to my surprise. I thought it might be the other way round,” she said.

“I’m out again, bidding for a seat in both elections. This time, I really hope to get a seat on both. Bray is a separate authority in itself to Wicklow and with a lot of planning issues coming up there, it’s critical that we have representation there.”

Four Green candidates, including Ms de Burca, run across the sprawling Wicklow County Council electoral area. Pat Pigeon is standing in Baltinglass, a critical area for the Greens, given the huge amount of illegal dumping in the region.

Francis Nearey, a town planner, runs in Greystones. Having him on the town commission and on the county council would be a major coup for the party and would help it influence planning in a region where a huge amount of development is planned.

The fourth candidate is Tess Enright, who is bidding to represent Arklow on both the Town Council and County Council.

Ms De Burca said: “We are hopeful that we will do well. It’s a critical area for us and we must do well in Wicklow, particularly given all the green issues which have come up here in the past few years.

“They include the waste issue and the huge amount of illegal dumping which has gone on here. We’ve also seen the privatisation of our waste collection here in 2000. That company now has a total monopoly. We also don’t have enough recycling facilities. There’s nothing in Bray and those who want to recycle have to travel to mobile points every fortnight.”

The reaction on the doorstep has been very positive and the Green Party is hopeful it will pick up on what it says is a severe backlash against the Government parties.

“The reaction to the current Government is terrible. The anger and disgust out there is at an all-time high. People are disgusted with politics and politicians, given what’s going on in our tribunals.

“We’re being told by those who would traditionally vote Fianna Fáil that they won’t vote for them again. We would expect a large swing away from Fianna Fáil,” she said.