Mick Barry goes shopping for votes in Blackpool
Mick Barry is hovering over Jack Lynch. The Anti-Austerity Alliance candidate is handing out leaflets, engaging with people, trying to reel in a few number ones.
The late taoiseach is reposing in bronze, seated in the shadow of Barry’s canvass, appearing as relaxed as the man who may take the seat that was once his. If you’re looking for a glimpse of the new political dispensation then you need go no further than Blackpool Shopping Centre on Cork’s northside. Lynch is immortalised in a statue, one of their own, whom they regarded until the day he died as “the real Taoiseach”.
Lynch’s party drew support from all sections of society, but those days are long gone. Cork North Central, like the rest of the country, is less in thrall to catch-all parties than ever before. Political kudos is more likely to be acquired on protest marches than on the fields where Lynch sported and played.
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Sinn Féin ‘would creep in during night’, says Joan Burton https://t.co/AE2afU9mvj (RMC) #GE2016 pic.twitter.com/eb9mRxnoTr
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 6, 2016
The smart money says the least Barry can expect is to be in a shake-up for the last seat. On an afternoon when it’s raining cats and dogs, he is warm and dry inside the centre, handing out his election leaflet and water charge posters. He engages with a confidence that does not come naturally to most canvassers. His ease with the public is even more impressive, considering he is not a native, but a displaced Dubliner, who arrived in city 25 years ago. For the last 12 years he has been on the city council.
There is the usual cohort of respondents who glance at the leaflet, then up at his face, make the connection, and ask: “What are you going to do for me?”
A man approaches with a loaded trolley and grabs Barry by the arm. He knows the candidate and nods. Barry introduces the man as Finbarr Bevin, “a famous football referee”. Finbarr is full of praise for Barry.
Another approaches. He is Martin Condon. Barry recalls they first met soon after Barry landed in Cork. Martin racks his brain. “It was a protest march,” Barry says. “The anti-service-charge protest in the nineties.” Condon agrees. He thinks Barry has a good chance, particularly if he can “stay between the two Shinner candidates in the first count”.
Condon departs with a grin. “I’ll be watching out for you on the telly in Dáil Éireann,” he tells Barry.
If things fall his way, Barry may well become the first AAA-People Before Profit TD from outside The Pale. Such an eventuality might in turn push the group’s compliment to at least seven which would see them granted speaking rights in the House.
This is Barry’s fourth general election. He came close last time around, pulling in over 4,800 votes, up from 1,700 in 2007 and 930 in 2002.
The turbulence in politics over the last five years has left him better positioned this time around. The Labour vote in a predominantly working-class area is particularly vulnerable, but the incumbent, Kathleen Lynch, is a doughty campaigner who can’t be written off.
Time to join forces for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, reports @McConnellDaniel https://t.co/whft7iFDEf #GE2016 pic.twitter.com/9u3ZSwC0au
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 6, 2016
Another man approaches and grabs Barry’s hand. “Fair play to you,” he says. “I’ll give you a two or a three. I have to give Jonathan [O’Brien, the Sinn Féin TD] a No1, he sorted out the wife’s invalidity pension, but I’ll definitely vote for you.”
A woman sidles up to him conspiratorially. She talks in a low voice about her concern for mental health services and asks what he will do. She relates that two male members of her family have taken their own lives in recent years. Barry listens intently, but expresses no surprise. Like all public representatives, he has seen the issue of youth suicide come more to the fore through the years of recession.
George O’Mahony runs up to Barry, full of warmth but bearing the warning that he won’t vote for a party that does not embrace Christian values. Barry explains his position on same-sex marriage and abortion, quite obviously advocating for both, but doing so with measured diplomacy. George is half satisfied. He takes a leaflet, glances at it and heads off.
Two women and a youth separately approach merely asking for a copy of the water charge poster. Barry says the two major issues on the doorstep are “the USC and water charges”. He admits the “fizz” has gone out of the protest since the mass marches over a year ago, but says it is still a major issue for the people he represents.
During the canvass, he steers most conversations back to the water charge. For the AAA, the issue is a major calling card. As a source of votes, the issue could be the difference between Barry getting over the line and not.
First time voter: ‘I have a lot to read up on before election day’ https://t.co/BKsMlHPNkI (RMC) #GE2016 pic.twitter.com/ZZZtvqdj5c
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) February 6, 2016
Getting over the line might involve another gent who sweeps up to him as the afternoon stretches out. Tommy Gould is noticeable from 20 yards, being a big man and one of the few wearing a suit in the centre. He is the second Sinn Féin candidate in the constituency, along with sitting TD Jonathan O’Brien. He has a big, booming welcome for Barry, and they swap pleasantries before Gould moves on.
After that, it’s back to meeting and greeting. The times around here have changed since Jack Lynch’s day, and Barry knows that even if his day does not arrive on February 26, he’s at least going to give it a good rattle this time around.
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