Local issues rear their head as candidates pound the streets

There was little sign of an election in the suburban streets of Bishopstown in Cork, where one of the newest candidates to be added to the Fine Gael ticket was already two weeks into her canvass.

The candidate posters’ reach had yet to spread beyond the city’s main roads into the suburban streets. However Julie O’Leary, a 25-year-old barrister, and two party colleagues go door-to-door along the quiet residential streets off the Curraheen Rd.

Last autumn, junior minister Dara Murphy narrowly beat Senator Colm Burke for the only Fine Gael candidacy in the Cork North Central constituency, only for the party to add Ms O’Leary to the ticket, last month.

“Well obviously the gender quotas had something to do with it, it would be silly to pretend otherwise,” she says. “But I am a young, qualified, candidate with something to offer. The party wouldn’t just put anybody forward.”

Many doors go unanswered during an afternoon when people are at work but every third door or so, is opened by mainly stay-at-home parents, along with the “grey vote” who have resided in this area for generations.

Ms O’Leary cites investing in public services, and job creation to bring emigrants home as the key issues. “The issues [that come up on the doors] ranged from roads to education, to political reform and what we were doing to shake up the Dáil,” she says of the canvass so far.

On the doorsteps here, however, the issues raised are mainly local. One older couple plan to promise their votes to the candidate who can secure their son, who works in the public sector in the Midlands, a transfer to Cork. Another woman wants a council house for her son. One house call results in a 10-minute conversation about the drainage on the street at times of heavy rain. Ms O’Leary listens intently while city councillor PJ Hourican scribbles details on a pad of Post-It notes.

Ms O’Leary deftly turns one potential hazard to an amiable conversation. Told by a homeowner that “no politicians are welcome here”, Ms O’Leary points out she isn’t a politician yet and hopes she can change their perception. The encounter ends with the previously near-hostile resident wishing her good luck.

One woman uses the canvass leaflet she has just received to wave it in dismissal at the canvassers and accuses Fine Gael of creating a divided society.

The exchange is still civil, however, and a canvasser remarks that the fiery reception they received during the local elections has cooled somewhat this time round.

Ms O’Leary says she and running mate, junior minister Murphy, make a complimentary offer to voters.

“I would think that coming to this as a new candidate, as a younger candidate, as a female, that I definitely have something to offer to the voters as well,” she said.

Ms O’Leary says she backs a referendum on the Eighth Amendment, but does not elaborate on how she would vote on it.

The afternoon canvass comes to an end — it’s time to break for dinner, regroup, add layers, and head out again into the night. Two weeks down, three to go.

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