Shoe leather to be tested as Bertie delivers election strategy

Party candidates are being licked into shape, reports Political Correspondent Fionnán Sheahan.

The unofficial Fianna Fáil slogan for the forthcoming local elections is ‘knock on doors’, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told party members at the weekend.

Advocating that candidates basically get out and wear down shoe leather on the high roads and byroads over the next three-and-a-half months, Mr Ahern claimed the FF cumann and organisation is a part of every community in the country.

“Knock on doors. And I don’t care if it’s the front or the back door,” Mr Ahern reportedly said in a closed session dedicated to the party organisation.

The emphasis on key local election issues like decentralisation, rural housing and regional hospitals, as FF wielded its power over Government policy and purse strings, wasn’t the only signal that the Árd Fheis was the launch pad for the June 11 poll.

Similar to all the other political parties, Fianna Fáil’s local elections campaign didn’t start today or yesterday and any candidate worth his salt has been out canvassing for the past year at least. The Fianna Fáil machine, though, is an utterly more formidable beast to anything the rest can muster.

Aside from having 50,000 foot soldiers in 2,700 branches across the country, FF headquarters is also providing slick support for their 800-odd election candidates - including 56 under the age of 30.

At the FF Árd Fheis, candidates and their supporters could get information and prices on posters, leaflets and a variety of election paraphernalia.

The absence of spending limits for the local elections means some candidates will be spending low five-figure sums over the coming months to get elected.

All the parties know cash alone won’t get anyone elected without the work on the ground being done, but it can certainly help.

Promotional material specialists, Easyway Incentives, were among the companies to have a stand in the lobby of the conference centre to advertise their wares to candidates.

According to the company’s owner Damien Heaney, he and his wife gave out 1,000 packs containing samples of pens, fridge magnets and key rings, as well as price lists and brochures on their other products such as T-shirts, polo shirts, umbrellas and balloons.

“They were queuing up to get them. It’s mostly delegates and people who are going for the local and Euro and, believe it or not, the general election,” Mr Heaney said.

Following a meeting with FF headquarters in the recent weeks, FF press director Olivia Buckley invited the company to come along to the conference.

The candidates themselves will pay for anything ordered but FF HQ is making sure all their candidates know what’s available.

Elsewhere in the lobby, FF HQ had set up a dedicated stand for one of the country’s leading photo agencies, Maxwell’s Photography, to take head and shoulder photos of candidates for use on election literature.

FF sources say the idea is basically to make life as easy as possible for the candidates.

“It’s to bring in the concept of promoting themselves. If you are a candidate or a councillor and communications and marketing is not your business, it is up to the party to provide that sort of back-up service,” the source said.

In the last general election, the organisational gap on a number of levels between the FF set-up and the chasing pack was the size of the Grand Canyon.

Days before election day, boxes containing thousands of canvassing leaflets for a couple of candidates in the west of Ireland were sitting in the front hallway of Fine Gael headquarters - and then FG wondered where it all went wrong.

Under new FF general secretary Seán Dorgan, the party operation is now believed to be even sharper as he aims to tackle the organisational deficits that often plagues parties when they get into Government and commitments lie elsewhere.

The party is not going to give up the local authority seats easily and council places will have to be wrestled from their hands.

The challenge for the opposition parties is to match that level of organisation while also proving they offer an alternative.

The message from Fianna Fáil appeared to be quite clear: Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough and professional enough.