With just 24 hours until voting begins, TDs representing rural constituencies are urging voters to ensure that “fearless voices” are heard in the Dáil, which will “defend rural communities and stand up against policies which are causing harm”.
Without Independent voices in the Dáil, rural issues are at the mercy of the big parties, where those key concerns are overruled by the party machine, say TDs such as Mattie McGrath and Carol Nolan – who both hit back at claims from the parties of the outgoing Coalition that Independents would not provide stability.
Campaigning in Tipperary South last night, Rural Independent TD, Mattie McGrath, hit back at remarks made by Green leader Roderic O’Gorman who raised what the Irish Times described as the “spectre” of the Tipperary TD becoming Minister for the Environment.
Mr McGrath said that the Green leader was “desperate for attention in the dying days of the campaign” and that he and other rural independents were in the Dáil to speak for the “people of Ireland outside of the elite bubble”. Without Independents, a “slavish and unthinking adherence to a green agenda” would mean that a “real hostility to farming communities and the rural way of life” would “hold sway in Leinster House”.
“I won’t accept that sort of sweeping criticism from a man whose record as a Minister has been abysmal, whose polices wrecked havoc on the country,” Mr McGrath said. “People are furious with Roderic O’Gorman and he knows it. ”
He said that carbon taxes and “attacks on farming” especially hurt rural Ireland, and that a Green agenda was being foisted on the “people who provide us with our food and what we need to live and raise our families.”
“We’re seeing on the canvass that housing and cost of living are huge issues,” Mattie McGrath said, “as is rural crime and the closure of Garda stations. Immigration comes up a lot on the doors as well: people feel the government has made a hames of it, bringing huge numbers of people here while we have a homeless crisis and a housing crisis.” He said that the policies of the outgoing government were “choking the life out of rural Ireland.”
Tipperary Live reported yesterday that on its canvass with MrMcGrath in the town of Dundrum, they had been approached by a man, Robert Mockett, who “thanked Mattie for finding himself, his partner and his young child a house”.
He said that they were living in a shed in Donohill that was freezing and had a rat infestation. He went to McGrath for help as it was unsafe for a young baby under 18 months old to continue living there.
McGrath had helped find the family a home and Robert had not seen McGrath since he’d moved in. He couldn’t thank him enough and said a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and now he can focus on Christmas with his family and welcoming a new baby on the way. Mattie replied “That’s why we’re here, we’re in politics to help people.”
“Well, it is our job,” the Tipperary Independent told Gript. That’s what seems to be missing from politics with the bigger parties: they’re focused on crazy stuff like taking mothers out of the constitution instead of providing the people with housing and doing something about the cost of living crisis which is really hurting people, including the people who are being told that they can’t burn the turf their people have been cutting for generations in their own homes.”
The cost of living is also a huge issue on the doors in Offaly, McGrath’s Rural Independent colleague Carol Nolan says, adding that there is an “overwhelming sense that things are falling apart” amongst ordinary people.
For the first time in the history of the state, Offaly will be a stand alone constituency with three TDs set to be returned by the electorate in the county. Nolan is the only sitting TD on the ballot paper, with at least two new TDs to be elected in the constituency this Friday. Nolan, a former Gaelscoil principal, says that there is a feeling that the mood in the country has shifted and that people are “genuinely sick and tired” of the current Government.
She believes things are worse than they were when the government took office four years ago, and hit back against recent statements from the big parties saying that Independents “have done more to change the narrative and drive real reform of policy than any political party”.
Speaking to Gript from the doorsteps, Deputy Carol Nolan said: “The verdict from people at the doors is that this has been an abysmal Government. They feel it has presided over a multi-generational collapse in trust and hope. That it has squandered enormous tax revenues and the opportunity to bring about real change. They think Government parties have shown themselves to be arrogant, elitist, and ideologically captured by extreme voices on everything from the environment, planning, farming, the school curriculum and immigration.
“Carers feel absolutely abandoned and the recent failure to abolish the carers means test has compounded a lingering sense of hurt regarding the recent ‘carers referendum.’ Parents of special needs children feel like Government is gaslighting them. They hear ministers talk of increased investment, new plans, new models of disability services. But they also see that their support systems in free-fall. They are being pushed to the limit of human endurance and simply cannot understand how the current level of service neglect has been able to reach the point it is at right now, ” she said.
She said that reducing the cost of living was the number one issue for people. She wants to drive down “obscene” energy costs and increase social and affordable housing. The TD says that Budget giveaways are now a distant memory as the cost-of-living crisis continues to deepen.
The outgoing Offaly based TD went on to say that while Government parties may have banked on being able to win over the electorate with an unprecedented €2 billion splurge across a range of welfare and once-off payments, the reality on the ground is “that the majority of families now actually seem angrier at Government now than they were before the Budget.”
“Without a doubt people are frustrated and deeply angry at Government over its utterly transparent attempt to buy them off with minimal tax and welfare benefits. They feel that the Government Parties have acted as if they could simply waltz into an election campaign having put a clear price on the cost of their vote. They are telling me quite clearly that they absolutely resent that level of disrespect,” said Deputy Nolan.
“Energy bills, carbon tax increases, rising rents, massive increases in food groceries and payments such as motor insurance, continue to wipe out the cost-of-living package announced in the Budget. People are desperate for a sense of normality and manageability to return,” she said.
“The costs are simply out of control. Many of them are working hard and full time but they are sick to death of having to watch every penny while, let me be frank, they also see billions of euros thrown at services for tens of thousands of people entering the country who have little or no right to be here.”
Regarding the immigration crisis, an area where Nolan has been among the most outspoken TDs since the crisis started to unfold, she says politicians need to get a firm grip on “out-of-control” immigration, and dramatically slow the level of demand on our already overburdened services.
“People tell me they cannot understand what is so ‘wrong’ with the proposition that an Irish Government should put the security and needs of its own people and its law abiding citizens first?” she said.
“On a daily basis I am also hearing about our chaotic, dangerous and costly immigration crisis. The overwhelming sense people have is that Ireland is ‘a rich country’ for everyone and anyone who comes here but not for them. Where is the improved infrastructure? Where is the improved quality of life? People are genuinely sick and tired of the current Government. They feel ignored and betrayed by a political class that is simply not listening to them but instead is focused on telling them what they should think or say or not think and say, particularly around immigration.
Deputy Nolan also highlighted a lack of supports for parents of children with additional needs, which has been a marked concern among voters on the doors.
“I am also hearing about the lack of therapeutic supports for schools particularly special schools. That issue alone is causing a massive degree of hidden heartbreak and pain among parents and educators,” she said.
Agriculture is also an area where people have expressed concern. She cites a dramatic fall in farm incomes. “Farmers do not know if Government is their friend or their enemy from one day to the next. More often than not farmers feel as if they are almost being criminalised and many are drowning under the weight of an intensely overly bureaucratic system.”
“Rising crime and a sense that society is becoming far more dangerous and violent. Many people now believe the character of society has utterly changed. The loss of respect for people and property is palpable to them.”
Asked to identify the issues being encountered on doorsteps most relevant to Offaly, Nola says that everything is “more difficult now than it was four years ago, when Government took office.”
“From the cost of living to exorbitant rents and the cost of doing business for cafes, hospitality, SME’s and the likes of our hairdressers. Lack of social and affordable housing.
“Also access to healthcare including child and adult mental health/disabilities. Virtually no medical card access to dentists and poor GP access. There are nearly 100 people in Offaly who cannot find a GP practice to take them on. This is unprecedented.
“I believe Independents such as myself have done more to change the narrative and drive real reform of policy than any political party. People want to be heard and they want action from a Government that for once is beholden to their interests and not those of an EU driven agenda that has nothing but contempt for the nation state and its people.”
Both TDs said that because Independents don’t have “huge funding and a party machine”, their rural representatives need every vote they can get” to make a difference. “We need the bubble to burst on Saturday when the votes are counted, but people need to come out and vote or this will continue,” Mattie McGrath said.