Cassells finds feet as he takes the floor

THE photographer is complaining. “It’s a disaster. He doesn’t know what he’s doing at all,” he says of Labour’s prospective MEP for East, Peter Cassells.

In Wexford's main street, the former ICTU head is clearly unused to canvassing and spends most of his time hanging back talking to the reporter from the Herald instead of pressing the flesh.

"He's not a politician. I keep telling you that," says a good-natured Brendan Howlin, who is more than making up for his colleague's lack of experience on the campaign trail.

Indeed, the sight of Brendan Howlin in full flight on his home turf is the political equivalent of watching Carl Lewis bring home the men's 400m relay in the Olympic final.

First he spots a known supporter and his well-oiled Labour tag team leaps from the starting blocks at speed. "There's Phyllis, go and grab her," he nudges a local candidate.

Then, directing his party leader by the elbow to ensure he is ready to collect the baton, the second lap begins. "You know Pat Rabbitte, Labour Party leader," he says, easing his boss into shaking hands with the eager constituent.

Pat takes over, listens, nods, smiles, exchanges a few pleasantries and lays the finishing lap up perfectly for his European hopeful.

"And don't forget Peter Cassells in the European elections," he says, looking around for the man himself ... who is invariably nowhere to be seen.

"Peter, come over here and talk to this woman," he bellows as an exasperated, but teasing Brendan Howlin tells his man to walk a little faster. Somehow, though, the canvass seems to work well, and judging by all the indications so far Peter Cassells has a fair chance of being bound for Europe come June. Polling 14% in the latest Irish Examiner/Prime Time poll, he is facing a neck-and-neck battle with Mairéad McGuinness for the third seat.

Certainly, in Wexford, where Labour traditionally command 40% of the vote, there are few negative voices and the pavement pounding is dominated by a combination of the usual good-natured banter and the odd red herring.

"You're a bigger man than on the telly," one elderly woman tells Pat Rabbitte.

Another voter is concerned at the availability of pornography in book shops and video stores. "To be honest, it's not an area that has been grappled with legislatively," the Labour leader begins, judging his response delicately.

Having begun at 9.30am with a local radio show, the team has already had a pep- talk in SIPTU's offices, canvassed the main street, attended a briefing by Wexford Area Partnership and paid a flying visit to a local Rehab sheltered workshop before lunch.

The partnership briefing saw concerns expressed as to whether numerous projects from out of work support, to asylum seeker integration would continue to be funded.

And it's here, with his vast experience of negotiating social partnership deals, that Peter Cassells comes into his own.

As he takes the floor he immediately earns the respect of the audience of community workers, who are left in no doubt that he understands and will seek to support them in their work. And it's his prowess as a negotiator that he believes will see him work effectively in Europe. "A lot of the issues are dealt with by way of negotiation ... so that would be my biggest advantage in terms of knowing how to deal with things," he responds when asked about running for public office for the first time.

And he, more than many, knows how Europe has been, and will continue to be, a powerful actor when it comes to something like disability rights. "If you take women's rights, equal pay and equality all of that came from European directives, and most of them are convinced the only way the rights of people with disabilities and of carers are going to be vindicated is through a European programme or directive," he says.

This is the real meat of the day, and as Pat Rabbitte is keen to point out, these are the issues that actually matter.

"I would like to see some dissection of the issues from here on out. Let's get away a bit from the froth of politics that has had, I think, too much of an influence on the campaign so far. A certain amount of razzmatazz is inevitable but there are big issues there.

"There are big issues in this campaign and it would be great from here on in if we had less of Michael McDowell send in the clowns or send home the clowns less of Royston Brady's posters and so on."