Jerry says Kenny not an issue on doorsteps
But Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s refusal to take part in tonight’s debate on TV3 didn’t seem to bother people in Cork South Central one bit yesterday afternoon as Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer swept through on the canvass trail.
“You’re the first person to raise the issue with me all day,” he told me, as he and his team strode through several housing estates in Togher.
“It’s a ‘media fixation’. The debate is just not an issue on the doorsteps — people are concerned about job creation, ending emigration, reforming the health service, the universal social charge, and the reduction in their take-home pay. They’re the big issues.”
He would say that though, wouldn’t he. But of the 400 or 500 doors his team knocked on, they said Enda’s debate no-show was raised just twice — once more than Fine Gael’s policy on making Irish non-compulsory after the junior cert.
In one working-class estate, an unemployed 28-year-old single mother of two children under eight years, who declined to be named, told Mr Buttimer of the crisis facing her family.
Her child benefit has been reduced and she is trying to survive on €200 a week. She is struggling to pay her electricity and gas bills.
She and her partner have split up because he has been forced to emigrate to Australia after losing his job.
A relation who also lost his job as a mechanic has sent out 30 CVs but has had no response.
“There are just no jobs out there. It’s scary. Every day, I hear the same thing from my friends. And there are loads of people in the same boat,” she said.
“I don’t expect the social welfare to cover me. But if I try to better myself, they’ll cut my allowances, and I can only barely cover the bills as it is. And they’ve cut the minimum wage.
“I don’t see any future here for my kids. There is nothing here for them now. If I was on my own, I’d be gone. I’d love to start fresh.”
Her mother said this sense of hopelessness and despair is crushing young people in the area. She said several young people neighbours have taken their own lives — and she blames the recession.
“I don’t have a clue about politics but I just know we’re fecked. Everyone’s in the same boat. I’ll definitely vote. I haven’t decided how yet, but I know it won’t be Fianna Fáil,” the young mother said.
Kieran Coleman was fixing his car outside his house in Deanrock estate.
“We used to vote for John Dennehy, and his son Fergal before. But will I vote for Fianna Fáil again? Not a hope,” he said.
“Sure, the seats are being passed from father to son or daughter, and they’re all sitting on their laurels, taking their fat pensions when they retire.
“It’s time for change. It’s time for new faces, someone to rattle the cages up there.”
Harriet Dorgan said she and her friends are angry at the state of the country — and she knows exactly who is to blame.
“What a mess we’re in. And I blame Bertie. Bertie made the mess,” she said.
“Cowen thought he could fix it, but sure he made things 10 times worse. How can they clean it up? I don’t know if anyone can fix it.”
When asked if she would vote for Fianna Fáil, she smirked, and said: “Is that a joke?”
Another woman, who had a hip replacement operation at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital on the northside, said her main concern was the transfer of services from there to the South Infirmary.
“I’ll support anyone who backs St Mary’s,” she said.
In nearby Westside Estate, the Buttimer team knocked on the door of former Fianna Fáil TD, John Dennehy, who lost his seat in the 2007 election.
After the hand-shakes and jokes, and a request for his vote, Mr Dennehy said he would look at every competitor in the field, but, obviously, would consider his own party’s candidates first.
Mr Dennehy, who is canvassing his core supporters in the city’s south west ward, said he has not come across an anti-Fianna Fáil sentiment.
“It’s going to be very, very tough. But I’m more optimistic now than I was two weeks ago,” he said.
He said he could never have imagined how low Fianna Fáil has sunk in the polls, but pointed to Fine Gael’s wipe-out in the 2002 general election.
“I remember the front page of The Examiner the day after the election, and it had just one word: ‘Gone’. 26 people I think, all high-profile names that hadn’t made it back.
“Now they’ve come back and Enda Kenny has done a great job. Micheál Martin has the same job ahead of him.”
He predicted no change of personnel in south central. “But don’t write off Jerry Buttimer — he’s a tough cookie,” he said.
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