The "Progressive" Social Democrats and all the rest

I thought I do one last blog on #ge16 to cover the rest of the candidates on the Limerick City ballot paper.

A "progressive" (aka the regressive-left") is someone who believes in things like the pseudo scientific notion that gender is a social construct, in contradictions like abortion is a human right and in myths such as the gender pay gap. Whereas in fact, gender is determined by biology, abortion is a human wrong and if there is a company in Ireland that is paying women less for working the same hours in the same job with the same qualifications, then they are breaking the law and should be prosecuted.

Declared "progressives" in this election include Sinn Féin, AAA, Social Democrats, Labour and the Green Party, even Fine Gael are calling themselves "progressive".

SARAH JANE HENNELLY  - SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

Sarah Jane Hennelly is the by far the best looking candidate on the ballot paper, but she is more than just a pretty face; she is an articulate and capable woman; I heard speak at the Limerick Spring in 2014 and her performance on TV3's The Peoples Debate was credible. She may surprise everyone by taking a seat. I think she has a chance if she canvassed hard. Unfortunately, she strikes me as a career politician and we already have plenty of those. 

They have an interesting manifesto , obviously I don't agree with all of it and I found it a bit vague in parts such as "End Direct Provision" for refugees, by all means speed up asylum applications but what is the alternative to direct provision? The Social Democrats don't tell us.

They are a newly formed party and seem to be made up of independents and Labour refugees, their leader is Stephen Donnelly:

.

What got my attention most about this video is Donnelly's apparent lack of knowledge regarding our political system as outlined in our Constitution: "Every election we elect a hundred and sixty six men and women to Dáil Éireann and what I discovered over the last five years is about fourteen of them get to make all the decisions... " he says. The 14 he refers to are the government and they require a majority support in the Dáil to stay in office. He then goes on to talk about changing the system but it is very vague. I'm just a bit shocked that he was so unfamiliar with our Constitution.

JAMES GAFFNEY - GREEN PARTY

What can I say, I don't like the Green Party. Gormely was Minister for Environment when "regeneration" was at its most destructive and he ignored all my correspondence.

I don't know much about James Gaffney except that he was terrible on TV3's The Peoples Debate - he could barely string a sentence together. 

As for global warming, we could certainly do with a bit of it in this country :)

DES HAYES - INDEPENDENT

I didn't encounter any posters for Des Hayes.

Hayes was formerly the Renua candidate, but they dropped him after it emerged that he had filed incorrect tax returns.

Hayes claims to be Pro-Life, but he seemed to fudge the issue on TV3's The Peoples Debate because some politicians want to be all things to all people so they can get their vote, so I'm not sure if he is really Pro-Life. The back of his Litir um Thoghchán is vague to say the least:

Hayes also says he'll be a "strong independent voice for Limerick".

DENIS RIORDAN - INDEPENDENT 

Last but not least, Denis Riordan. This will be Riordan's 5th general election. He has not posters or leaflets or a Litir um Thoghchán, he doesn't even have his photo on the ballot paper.

In 2005 Riordan was in the high court seeking to appear on the electoral ballot as 'Independent' instead of "non-party" but he was unsuccessful. He was jailed for a week in 2001 for refusing to withdraw his allegation that three Supreme Court judges were corrupt. He is best known for challenging the results of referendums.

So, that the lot of them covered. I'm off now to cast my vote and in case you're wondering where I got the photo of Riordans place on the ballot paper, my wife had a postal vote as she would be away for the election.

Here's the ballot paper in it's entirety:

Nora Bennis the Catholic Menace

Nora Bennis is the candidate for the Catholic Democrats and I know nothing about that party other than the vague information provided on the back of her Litir um Thoghchán and that they have an unfortunate sectarian sounding name.

Nora is best known for holding protest prayer vigils outside Limerick's first adult shop, Utopia; she gave that purveyor of Jazz mags, blue movies and assorted vibrators so much free publicity that I began to suspect that she was actually a secret share-holder. 

Would Nora outlaw masturbation if the Catholic Democrats swept to power? Who would run the country if all the wankers were arrested?

Seriously though, does this woman have any redeeming qualities? Well, she is Pro-Life and opposed to repealing the 8th amendment to facilitate abortion-on-demand.

I would rather help to elect a government that might strap a water meter to my mickey and charge me for every time I took a piss than help elect one that would allow abortion.

If you found that last statement to be crude and offensive then pity about you, it is nowhere near as crude and offensive as the abortion industry. If you found it funny, well then you won't be laughing after you watch these:

1st Trimester Medical Abortion: Abortion Pills

2nd Trimester Surgical Abortion: Dilation and Evacuation (D & E)

3rd Trimester Induction Abortion: Injection and Stillbirth

There are a lot of self-professed repeal the 8th "progressives" running in this election (Sinn Féin, AAA, Social Democrats, Labour, Green Party); they have the deluded belief that abortion is a human right when it is in fact a human wrong. Life begins at conception and I don't need a Bible to know that the deliberate destruction of any life is wrong.

I don't care if Nora is eliminated in the first count, Nora is my protest vote and she will be getting my No. 1 today.

My No. 2 will go to Willie O'Dea (not that he'll need it) who is also Pro-Life.

How Does Willie Do It?

I was talking elections with a friend of mine yesterday when he posed the question, "How does Willie do it...how does he manage to get elected?"

My friend is not a fan of Willie O'Dea and he can't for the life of himself understand how anyone could vote for the Fianna Fáil incumbent.

Well, the answer is simple - Willie is Limerick's most hard working and accessible TD and that is an undeniable fact.

If you ever had cause to visit his constituency office you will know what I mean; if there is something that Willie can do to help he will do it and if there isn't he will tell you straight and point you in the right direction.

Willie O'Dea was first elected to the Dáil in 1982 and he has been re-elected in every general election since; on 7 occasions he was elected on the first count and in 2007 he received the biggest vote in the country - 19082 No. 1's, which was almost 2-and-a-half times the quota. In 2011 his vote dropped to 6956 and he was elected on the 6th count. I predict that he will top the poll this time round.

But Fianna Fáil wrecked the country, how could anyone vote for them?

I don't exactly agree with that sentiment. We all "wrecked the country" by taking loans that we couldn't really afford to pay back, by buying over-priced houses and inflating the bubble. If Fianna Fáil (and the rest of the parties) are guilty of anything it is of standing idly by.

Besides I am not so much voting for Fianna Fáil as I am for Willie O'Dea.

Willie has a track record of acting independently and of refusing the party whip and out of all the candidates I can honestly say he has done the most for me and the resident's groups I'm involved with. 

Willie joins Ballinacurra Weston Residents Alliance (BWRA) protest outside hall (2012) https://youtu.be/Vtlcbja-OME?t=30m14s

Willie takes the BWRA tour of the "regeneration zone":

Many of the answers and results that the Weston Gardens Residents' Association, the Moyross Resident' Alliance and the BWRA have achieved have been because of the representations  that Willie has made on our behalf.

And while I don't always agree with Willie and he doesn't always agree with me, he will always pay me the compliment of a rational opposition and that's a rare thing to find in Irish politics these days.

As an Independent Community Activist I have no hesitation in referring people to his clinics because I know he will do what he can to help them.

However, one of the most important factors for me in this election is that Willie is Pro-Life and when all is said and done, that is all I really need to know.

NO WAY - AAA (The Cut-Throat World of Limerick Politics)

Right from the start I was of the opinion that the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) was little more than a front for the Socialist Party.

I had attended a few meetings when it was the Campaign Against Water and Household Tax (or something like that) and I was aware that Cian Prenderville was a paid member of the Socialist Party with an annual salary of €35,000, because he told me so.

So when the campaign morphed into a political party I had written them as a front to trick people into voting for the Socialist Party.

Needless to say, I was extremely surprised when Cian rang me in April 2014 and asked me if I would consider running as a candidate for the AAA in the local elections; if it was a front he would hardly be asking me to run for them as we disagree on a few core issues such as abortion and the economy.

I declined and instead ran as an Independent; I was hoping to gain some vital transfers for another Independent, the late Jason Griffin (RIP).

The AAA got 3 City Councillors elected, 1 in each electoral area of the city - Cian in Limerick City North, Paul Keller in Limerick City East and John Loftus in Limerick City West.

I wasn't exactly thrilled for them; they had been elected on a platform of national issues and where I lived needed our Councillors to be more concerned with local issues.

I was PRO with the Ballinacurra Weston Residents at the time (BWRA) and we had invited all the newly elected Councillors to meet with us and take a tour of the area, we were pleasantly surprised by John - he's a genuine man that actually gives a shit about peoples concerns and problems.

John informed me that neither he nor Paul Keller were members of the Socialist Party, so I guess I was way off the mark.

Cllr. John Loftus taking the BWRA tour

I started attending protests and I even made a few Facebook videos in support:

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT THE GREENHILLS

ORGANISE YOUR COMMUNITY!!!

ORGANISE AND RESIST!

Then last August a row on Facebook between John and a former friend and ex-AAA member made local and national news. 

The row took place via private messages and was over the ex-AAA member posting disparaging remarks on Facebook regarding the AAA street collections. John was out of the country visiting his daughter at the time and had arranged to meet his former "comrade" when he got back; his friend had agreed to a ceasefire in the interim. Then in the early hours of the morning John saw another snide post from his pal and he reacted by sending him the following message, which his pal screen-grabbed and posted all over Facebook, such was his loathing for the AAA.

Now, on the face of it , it looks bad. However it needs to be looked at in context. It was a row between two people that know each other and nothing more. John is a working-class man from Portglasgow in Scotland and those of us that know him are familiar with his use of the vernacular and colourful turn of phrase, but instead of standing by John, the AAA threw him under the bus and demanded that he resign his Council seat.

An AAA meeting was called and John was invited to attend. Apparently, most of those present were members of the Socialist Party and the proceedings had the air of a  kangaroo court. John rightly refused to resign his seat and was expelled from the AAA. I can only wonder if the intention was to replace John on the Council with a member of the Socialist Party.

Cian Prenderville went on local radio to condemn John for making threats and claimed that was no context in which it was acceptable for a Councillor to address someone in such a manner.

There is always a context and in this case it was a private message sent from his personal Facebook account (in anger to someone who knew him well); not acting in an official capacity and not from a Council or AAA account. There was no real threat because there was no real intent. I know this for a fact because I was "threatened" last July.

I encountered three men on the Boreen leading to my home and one of them was spraying graffiti on the road. As I approached them they ran away shouting "Cathal the rat" and "you're dead" while making gun gestures at me. I reported the incident to the Gardaí and I was told that because I wasn't in fear for my life and didn't  believe that they were going to carry out their threat that there was no complaint to make.

The only thing that I found scary about the incident was the fact that these men in their twenties were all fathers of young children.

The AAA have joined forces with People Before Profit for this election and Cian has a good chance of taking the 4th seat even though as a Councillor for Limerick City North he has done little for the people of Moyross and St, Mary's Park. Because of his poor performance as a Councillor and because of his treatment of John, I will be giving him mu No. 8 preference, I may even bump him down to No.10, I'll make a final decision in the polling booth.

I think it's only fair to mention that the AAA, as far as I'm aware, were the only party to canvass Weston, albeit from a van. I haven't seen any other canvassers in the area and no one has knocked on mine or my neighbours doors.

Labour’s Losing Ways

As I walked into town on Thursday morning 2-weeks ago I noticed something strange as I passed the Tait Factory site on Lord Edward St. – there was a flurry of activity from men in hard hats and yellow jackets.  This was unusual because there hasn't been any activity there since last July.

Although, I suppose it isn't really all that surprising when you consider that the project history of this proposed development has been start-stall-stop since its announcement by Limerick Regeneration in 2011 and its approval in 2012 when it was granted planning permission.

As I returned home from town I got answer to the reason for all the activity. I spotted Alan Kelly TD, the Labour Party’s Minister for Environment, crossing the street.  Of course, they must be making another announcement and what could be a better time to do that then the run up to an election.

You can view the history of the development here: cisireland. The new finish date is 15/08/2017; the original finish date (which was announced in 2013) was 16/03/2015.

The plans is to build  79 housing units, 58 of which will be houses and apartments for the elderly, a retail commercial unit and a community facility with a function room, exhibition area, meeting areas and other facilities and at this stage I’ll believe it when I see it

Kelly nodded at me as he crossed the road and I nodded back; he looked dejected and down trodden, I almost felt sorry for him until I remembered our last encounter.

I met him in town in 2010 when he was an MEP; he had taken Kathy Sinnott’s seat in the European Parliament and as a consequence on the EU Petitions Committee.  I had been trying to contact him since his election in 2009; I had emailed him and left messages with his office, but I had got no reply.

Kathy had helped me to successfully petition the EU on issues of an environmental and public health concern and I was hoping that Kelly would pick up where she had left off. He apologised for not getting back to me and said that if I emailed him again with the details that he would look in to it and get back to me. I did just that, several times, I never even got an acknowledgement.

Now I didn't go chasing after him with my phone recording and shouting abuse (I’ll leave that carry on to the nut-jobs) but I did take a picture of his car, which must have cost a bit to get done.

Limerick’s Jan O’Sullivan TD is Labours incumbent; she is the outgoing Minister for Education and prior to that she was Minister for State for Housing. O’Sullivan was first elected to the Dáil in 1997 in a by-election that was held following the death of Labour colleague and mentor, Jim Kemmy TD.

O’Sullivan has been re-elected to the Dáil in the 3 general elections since then. However, she has never been elected by exceeding the quota; on each occasion she took the last seat without reaching the quota because all the other candidates had been eliminated and it is more than likely that she will be eliminated this time round and deservedly so.

As Minister for Education, O’Sullivan has been unremarkable, but as the Minister of State for Housing she was disastrous.  When her appointment was announced I was over the moon – a Limerick TD in charge of housing could only mean great things for regeneration, I thought to myself.

You see, for the first few months of the Fine Gael / Labour governments’ existence I had actually believed all their talk about looking out for communities and all the reforms that would make things more inclusive, but it was all bullshit.

And if I need more confirmation that it was bullshit, O’Sullivan launched the Limerick Regeneration Framework Implementation Plan (LRFIP) to invited guests in the Thomond Suite at Thomond Park on 27th September 2013. Very few residents were invited to attend the launch, although all of the speakers stressed how much community involvement and "collaboration" there was with residents in developing it.

This plan green-lined much of the land for private development in the long-term and red-lined many occupied homes for demolition without the agreement of the residents and those of us that were invited had to embarrass the invitations out of O’Sullivan. The whole affair was little more than a PR stunt for O’Sullivan.

I think I’ll give her my No. 9

The Community Centre where I live has a Labour billboard ad featuring Joan Burton.

Now, if I’m harder on Labour than I am on Fine Gael it is because I expected more from them. They claim to care about the working-class, the poor and the disadvantaged and then they screw us over with water meters and let us down completely when it came to “regeneration”

They want to repeal the 8^th amendment and introduce abortion –on-demand like the have in Britain and in recent weeks they have been constantly describing themselves as “progressive”, which is “a term that former liberals co-opted when they discovered that their delusional beliefs didn't fit any recognized definition of the word liberal.” And that is a description that suits them.

I’m Not Anti-Republican; I Just don’t Like the Way Sinn Féin Operates

For many of Sinn Féin’s opponents the issue of whether or not Gerry Adams used to be a member of the IRA seems to be their biggest problem with the party.

For me however, Adam’s alleged IRA membership is an irrelevant subject; the IRA is no longer at war, they have verifiably decommissioned their weapons and the Peace Process has transformed life in the North. I believe Adams when he says he was never a member, although I think that it more a case that he was never sworn in as opposed to having no influence over their actions.

I am more concerned with the way Sinn Féin operates.

From 1993 – 2010 I was a member of the National Executive of the Irish National Congress (INC) and during that time I had a lot of direct dealings with Sinn Féin.

The INC was a lobby group that promoted constitutional republicanism through the ideals of “freedom, unity and peace”.

Phoenix Magazine once described the INC as an organisation for “middle-class republicans that baulked at the idea of joining Sinn Féin”, but nothing could be further from the truth. The INC was a liberating space where republicans from all parties came together to discuss our differences and agree a strategy to end political violence and partition. We even had members of Fine Gael involved, until they were whipped out by their party.

A selection of INC campaign leaflets

The INC was a key player in a number of high-profile campaigns such as Repeal Section 31 (the Ministerial that had banned Sinn Féin from Irish radio and television since 1972), the campaign to reopen Border Roads destroyed by the British Army, the Give Peace A Chance campaign, the campaign to Defend Articles 2 & 3 and the Time For Peace- Time To Go campaign

At the time, Fine Gael was in government and the Taoiseach, John Bruton, wanted to delete Article 2 & 3 form our Constitution to appease northern Unionists. Our campaign ensured that public opinion was against holding a referendum, which was just as well because amending Articles 2 & 3 would later become central to negotiating the Good Friday Agreement with the INC, not Sinn Féin, negotiating the amended wording with the Fianna Fáil government.  

LOVE BOMBING

In the late ‘90’s the wife and I used to go holidays every August to West-Belfast for the week long festivities of Féile an Phobail. The festival always ended with the annual anti-internment commemoration rally and in 1999 our participation in this event made the front page of the Sinn Féin newspaper, An Phoblacht/Republican News.

Me and my wife, Cindy, on the front page of AP/RN

I didn’t realise it at the time, but this was to be the beginning of a love-bombing campaign to get me to join Sinn Féin.

It was suggested to me on numerous occasions by a variety of their members that I should consider joining the party, that I would be a great asset. The ego massaging switched to outright bribery in 2000 when I “won” a weekend away to Glasgow to see Celtic play.

I had witnessed the draw being rigged and I was taken aback when I was the “winner”. For fun I refused to accept the prize unless it was changed to a trip for two so that I could take my wife. That would be no problem I was told, all I had to do in order to collect my greatly-increased prize was to join Sinn Féin!

I politely declined.

ORANGE ORDER PROTEST

In 2000 I was Vice-Chair and PRO of the INC, Mary Lou McDonald (then a member of Fianna Fáil) was the INC’s Chairperson.  Mary Lou and I were invited to attend a meeting with Sinn Féin party officials to try and dissuade the INC from holding a protest against the civic endorsement of Orange Order sectarianism by Dublin City Council.

Sinn Féin was of the opinion that the Celtic Supporters Club intended to disrupt proceedings and that the ensuing violence would reflect badly on any organisation that was there to engage in peaceful protest. The INC was of the opinion that this was merely speculation and that any violence, if it occurred, would be publically condemned by us. We informed Sinn Féin that we would be going ahead with the protest.

It was after this meeting that I was contacted separately and invited to join Sinn Féin.  I was offered IR£35,000 (we still had the punt) per annum to become a Sinn Féin activist and organiser in Limerick City.

I refused the offer. I had come to the conclusion the previous year that Sinn Féin’s Ard Chomhairle (their ruling body) was not so much Republican and Nationalist as it was Marxist and Communist. More importantly, I am Pro-Life and Sinn Féin are pro-abortion-on-demand, so even if they doubled the money on offer I was never going to join.

I rang Mary Lou to tell her of this development and she informed me that the same offer had been made to her and that she had accepted it; she asked me not to tell the other members of the INC National Executive, as her membership would not become official for another 3-months and that she would announce it then (normally there is a 6-month “vetting” period, but Mary Lou’s membership was being fast-tracked).

Less than a week before the protest I got a panicked phone call from the INC’s Secretary, Sile Carson, informing me that a majority of the  INC's National Executive were now opposed to holding the protest, that Mary Lou had been ringing around and convincing people that it was a bad idea.

I assured Síle that the protest would go ahead as had been unanimously agreed at our last meeting, even if it was just the two of us; members were free not to participate, but any decision to call-off the protest would require another meeting and another vote.

I did my own ring around and convinced everyone to take part. Of course I felt I had no option but reveal Mary Lou’s membership of Sinn Féin to the other members.

I presented Mary Lou with two options, either resign as Chairperson or lead us in protest – she chose the latter and in Dawson St., Dublin on 28 May 2000, Mary Lou made her national and international television debut. Here's how RTE News Reported it on the day:

In terms of publicity, it was most successful protest that the INC had ever mounted. Cindy and I had painted a mock Orange banner, which stole the show. As we turned the corner onto Dawson Street the media stampeded towards us.

Cindy and me at the protest with the banner we made

"The bigoted hill-billies "

 

Some of the INC members and supporters at the protest

INC members Finian McGrath, Mary Lou McDonald

and Tom Cooper at the protest

Mary Lou resigned from the INC shortly after that but she kept in contact; she had been parachuted into the Joe McDonnell Cumann by the Ard Chomhairle as their candidate in the 2002 general election and she was terrified. The Cumann had already selected their candidate and they were not exactly happy about having their decision over-ruled. 

As a means to break the ice, Cindy and I agreed to make a banner for the Cumann for Mary Lou to present to them as a gift and Sinn Féin compensated the selected candidate with an all-expenses-paid  two-week holiday in Spain.

When I refused to help her Cumann with an anti-bin charges campaign they were mounting, because I wasn't a member and it felt like I was been dragged in and because I had other things to be doing, I explained my reasons and I never heard from Mary Lou again.

BULLY-BOY TACTICS

In 2001 I was Chairperson of the INC when I received a letter from Finian McGrath asking me to use any influence I had with Sinn Féin to stop them from fielding a candidate in his constituency as he believed that this would split the republican vote and allow a “two-nationist” Labour candidate to win.

Finian was a Dublin City Councillor and former Vice-Chair of the INC; he was contesting the 2002 general election and felt he had a good chance of taking the last seat.

Finian told me that he had been invited to join Sinn Féin and run as their candidate and when he refused they told him that they would run a candidate against him and destroy his chances of becoming a TD.

I explained to Finian that I had absolutely no influence with Sinn Féin and I suggested that he should contact Mary Lou; he told me that he had left several messages for her, but she hadn’t returned his calls.

Sinn Féin ran a candidate against Finian; the Sinn Féin candidate polled just over 800 first preference votes and when he was eliminated most of his transfers went to Fine Gael!

Clearly there had also been a whispering campaign against Finian, but despite this he still took the last seat. Finian would go on to be re-elected for 3 more terms and served in government as Minister for State for Disability Issues with a right to attend cabinet meetings. Finian resigned from electoral politics in 2020, but continues to be politically active.

DUBLIN REGENERATION

In 2007 I was trying to find out what “regeneration” might mean for Limerick, so I contacted a Sinn Féin Councillor in one of Dublin’s “regeneration” areas. I also made contact with several residents’ groups.

I had several conversations with the Councillor and he gave me some solid advice regarding the sort things to watch out for, such as poor consultation and sub-standard housing sizes in the new houses.

During one of our chats I informed that some of the resident’s I spoke to were less than impressed with him as a Councillor; his response was very enlightening. He told me that he used to be an Independent but that he had been recruited by Sinn Féin with the same offer that was made to me in 2000. He said that he has to send the agenda for every Council to “Head Office” and that they send him back a list of things to say on every issue.

He told me that he regretted joining, but that he was dependent on the wages and if he left he could never make as much as an Independent Councillor.

It would appear to me that Sinn Féin is, like most political parties, very much a top-down organisation with a bottom-up veneer – the Ard Chomhairle calls the shots.

MAURICE QUINLIVAN - STANDING UP FOR LIMERICK

Whether standing up, sitting down or lying on the flat of his back, I don’t care what position the Sinn Féin candidate for Limerick City takes as long as he is willing and able to speak out and act in the best interests of the communities he seeks to represent.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Limericks “regeneration” communities, speaking out and acting in our best interests is something that Quinlivan has failed to do as a City Councillor and I can’t see that changing when he becomes a TD.

In February 2014, Quinlivan voted (along with the rest of the noddies - it was a unanimous vote) to approve the Limerick Regeneration Framework Implementation Plan (LRFIP). This plan green-lined much of the land for private development in the long-term and red-limed many occupied homes for demolition without the agreement of the residents.

Moyross - Green-Lined for private development and red-lined for demolition

Southill - Green-Lined for private development and red-lined for demolition

St. Mary's Park - Green-Lined for private development and red-lined for demolition

Ballinacurra Weston - Green-Lined for private development and red-lined for demolition

Prior to this vote all of the City Councillors had been emailed with a submission from residents groups in Ballinacurra Weston that highlighted the many problems with the LRFIP like the lack of proper consultation and real participation of residents in developing the plans, and pointed out issues that were not addressed, such as the CCTV cameras being unmonitored.

And in case they had forgotten, a letter of support for the submission from Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Human Rights Council was left on their desks before the vote took place.

It is really hard to take the Sinn Féin rhetoric about social and affordable housing seriously when a plan like this can go unchallenged by their representative.

Pointing at boarded-up houses in photographs and decrying “regeneration” to the media is great for creating a perception in the public mind that a politician is on their side, but people need to look more closely at what they could have done and said when it really mattered.

Even if Quinlivan had been the only Councillor to speak out against the fantasy that is the LRFIP, it would have at least have made those issues a matter of public record, and who knows, maybe if he hadn't stayed silent, enough of the other Councillors might have been embarrassed into voting against it.

The idea that a proposal to demolish peoples homes without agreement or even informing the residents can be made is simply reprehensible and the fact that none of our Councillors spoke against it is abhorrent.

Even though he chose to remain mute, I have no doubt that Quinlivan will take a seat, possibly the third seat, maybe even the second. 

In 1918 when the original Sinn Féin won 73 out of the 105 seats for Ireland in Westminster on the basis that they would not take their seats and instead form a a parliament of our own, it was remarked by one commentator that Sinn Féin could stand a donkey and it would be elected. That looks to be the case again for this election.

Well I haven't been fooled and Quinlivan's inaction has earned him my No. 11 vote and in case you think that's a type-o I'll spell it out for you – number eleven!!