Different tactics for different parties in canvassing in Dublin Central continues

Constituents will vote this Friday

'In the car park of the landmark Hedigans pub. a Fianna Fáil canvassing team is meeting up, checking that everyone has canvassing cards and that the candidate, John Stephens, is ready to go.' Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

In the car park of the landmark Hedigans pub at Cross Guns Bridge in Glasnevin, a Fianna Fáil canvassing team is meeting up, checking that everyone has canvassing cards and that the candidate, John Stephens, is ready to go.

At the other end of the car park, which will be demolished along with the pub to make way for Metrolink, a Fine Gael team is doing the same with its candidate, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ray McAdam.

Unfortunately for this journalist’s copy, the two teams stay apart and don’t engage in any Sharks v Jets-style showdowns à la West Side Story.

The election, of course, was triggered by the shock departure of Paschal Donohoe from Irish politics, and his choice to join the World Bank has robbed Mr McAdam of the vital resource of being able to lean on his political mentor and ally —rules in Mr Donohoe’s new employer bar him from being involved in campaigns.

On the short spin to Drumcondra, he briefly laments this fact, but as a councillor for the last 17 years and the current first citizen of the capital, he knows he has a platform to step out of the long shadow cast by the former finance minister.

A 45-minute walk away on Montpelier Hill, Sinn Féin councillor Janice Boylan is trying something similar. Co-existing in the constituency with Mary Lou McDonald has not always been the smoothest ride for the 12-year councillor, who has previously denied there was ever any falling out with her party leader, characterising a 2022 letter as a “rant to colleagues”.

If either side holds a grudge about it, they don’t show it as they work their way through the estate where Ms Boylan is local, well known, and warmly received, each open door bringing a familiar face and, frequently, an issue to be dealt with, be it council home refurbishments, adaptation, bin trucks, or the building of the new O’Devaney Gardens project.

At one house, the pair call in on the mother and grandmother of Lily, who starred in a Sinn Féin campaign video alongside them. While Ms McDonald waxes lyrical about Lily’s professionalism on shoot day, her family says that she is inundated with requests for autographs.

Ms Boylan says that this is “a cost of living election” and the doors she calls to echo that back, with prices of energy and food particularly keenly felt. Her pitch on the doorsteps is simple: double the Sinn Féin firepower in the constituency and put it up to the Government. 

Back in Drumcondra, Mr McAdams is making the opposite pitch, naturally. He stresses that “only a government voice can deliver” the extra housing, gardaí, and facilities the area needs.

One might think that being the de facto government spokesperson in a crowded field would be draining, but Mr McAdam seems to be thriving on it, and his spiel resonates with some. On one door, he is even offered a dog, Rocco, but the French bulldog would be unlikely to keep up with the pace of canvassing.

Across from that house, however, is a man who flatly tells canvassers he will not be voting for Mr McAdam, raising the cost of flights taken to California by the lord mayor.

For Mr McAdam and Ms Boylan, this by-election represents a chance for each to make a mark away from those partymates who have so dominated the constituency for a decade and a half. They have similar missions, but both can’t be successful come this weekend.

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