Dog’s life on canvass trail

IT’S a dog’s life canvassing – just ask Drexil, the Labrador.

The four-legged walking billboard is pounding the streets of a Co Cork town looking for votes for a primary school teacher.

But Drexil’s not alone. Olive Corcoran has also enlisted the help of pupils, former pupils and colleagues in a battle to gain a seat on Fermoy Town Council. She’s running for Fianna Fáil, but has refused to take any money from the party to cover her campaign expenses.

Olive’s main advertising weapon is the 20 T-shirts she bought which have her picture on the front and ‘Vote Corcoran’ on the back.

“I wash them every night and hand them out to different canvassers the following day,” she said.

Olive doesn’t believe in mass-produced leaflets either. “If I miss someone at the door I leave a handwritten note,” the Presentation Convent primary school teacher said.

She’s hoping that her former pupils will turn out and vote for her on June 5. “I’ve done a lot of free Irish grinds for Leaving Certs over the years and I have a lot of contact with former pupils. If they turn up to vote I should get a seat,” she said.