Throughout the week between now and Election Day on Friday, November 29, we’ll be bringing you a daily bulletin from the campaign trail in our Election Diary.
As well as news from the battle in Laois, we’ll also be keeping an eye on what’s happening across the country.
School Therapists ‘a red line issue’ for Fleming
Seán Fleming TD, Minister of State, has said that introducing school therapists and multi-disciplinary teams in every special school “is a red line issue” for him and Fianna Fáil – the party who have been in power for the past four years.
“The introduction of school therapy supports and multi-disciplinary teams for schools is an important issue for me and Fianna Fáil, when considering forming a Government after the next election,” Deputy Fleming said.
“Leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin TD, stated this in Dáil Éireann recently and Fianna Fáil’s priority will be to introduce multi-disciplinary teams in every special school in Ireland.
“A pilot scheme was introduced by the Government recently in three Counties. This is only a short-term pilot scheme to test and ensure effective delivery of these supports.
“It is my understanding that these schemes have not even commenced as of yet in these counties.
“However, we want long-term solutions and Fianna Fáil is committed to delivering and rolling long-term therapy supports to all schools, starting with all special schools first.
“This is a red line issue for Fianna Fáil and we will not enter Government after the General Election with any party that does not accept our policy to have full multi-disciplinary teams delivered in every special school in Ireland.”
McCormack says parents seeking school places in Laois ‘face rejection time and time again’
Sinn Féin candidate in the November 29 General Election, Maria McCormack, has pledged her support for Laois parents, whose children “face rejection time and time again” she says.
Ms McCormack has replaced Brian Stanley as the party’s Laois candidate, with Deputy Stanley now running as an Independent Republican.
“Since my announcement as a candidate, I have been inundated with appeals for help from parents who cannot get a place for their children in their local school”, Ms McCormack said.
“One secondary school in Portlaoise has had 351 applications for first years, with only 192 places available. Parents are being told to appeal to the board of management, but there are just not enough classes and not enough teachers.
“A Sinn Fein-led Government will funnel the desperately needed funding into our schools in Laois, increasing capacity, trebling the workforce and acquiring the basic necessary resources that our schools have grown accustomed to begging for.
“The funding has always been there, but the political will to use that funding in the right places has been missing in action. I aim to change this, and I have the political will to do it.”
Green Party candidate Palmer goes poster free
Green Party General Election candidate for Laois, Rosie Palmer, has announced that she will run a poster-free campaign.
“I’ve been in every town and village in the county over the last few days and the sheer quantity of election posters that have popped up on our road signs and sides is phenomenal,” Ms Palmer said.
“In the run up to the Local Elections, I was contacted by many Laois people asking me not to use posters. As a first-time candidate, I knew I needed to get the balance between visibility and the impact on the environment right.
“Many consider posters to be part of the democratic process, but I felt there must be a modern solution to this long-standing election tradition.
“I wrote to the Council to ask them to create designated poster area in a central location in each town, like we see across Europe, unfortunately, it wasn’t something they were able to action at the time.
“I went on to run a low poster campaign then, but this time round I have made the conscious decision not to contribute to the visual clutter, pollution and wasting of resources, and will not be erecting posters.
“I read recently that this will likely be the most expensive election in history, that’s because spending thresholds have been increased by 30% to €38,900.
“This doesn’t sit well with me, and only serves to benefit those who are able to spend more money, giving an advantage to the bigger, richer parties and individuals of means – that’s not democracy, and certainly not the fairer future I envision for Laois.”
Throughout the week between now and Election Day on Friday, November 29, we’ll be bringing you a daily bulletin from the campaign trail in our Election Diary.
As well as news from the battle in Laois, we’ll also be keeping an eye on what’s happening across the country.
Word of the Day – Apparatchik
There are some words that you only ever hear used around election time. One such word is apparatchik, as in “the party apparatchiks may decide differently”. This can sometimes be referred to as “party headquarters”.
The original definition of the word is from the old Soviet Union days where an apparatchik was a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party, who had bureaucratic or political responsibility.
Such a crowd to be compared to.
Election Memory – 1992
The last time a General Election was held in November was in 1992 – on a Wednesday, no less, November 25.
The previous Government, in place since the 1989 election, had been a Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats (PD) coalition. That arrangement came to an end when the PD leader Dessie O’Malley pulled the plug over allegations of dishonesty at the Beef Tribunal.
1992 was the year in which brought an end to the Charlie Haughey era of Fianna Fáil though his shadow lingered for many years after. He was replaced as leader – and Taoiseach – by Albert Reynolds in February of that year and it was a first, and only, election that Reynolds led Fianna Fáil into.
Fianna Fáil lost nine seats in the 1992 General Election to go back to the Dáil with 68 – their worst election performance since 1927.
But Fine Gael lost 10 to go back with 45. The big winners were Dick Spring’s Labour, who gained 18, for a record-breaking and then party high of 33 seats. That election is thus remembered as the ‘Spring Tide’.
Indeed it was among one of the first times that the term ‘rotating Taoiseach’ was mentioned – with a Fine Gael/Labour arrangement mooted. That never came to pass and was indeed a sticking point so Spring did business instead with Fianna Fáil – Reynolds as Taoiseach and Spring as Tanáiste.
That Government, though, was ill-fated, lasting just over two years. The Beef scandals never went and away and by-election results in December 1994 meant that there was sufficient numbers for a Fine Gael/Labour/Democratic Left government.
That became known as the Rainbow Coalition and was the only time in history that there was a change of Government without an election.
John Bruton assumed the role of Taoiseach, with Spring continuing as Tanaiste. They remained in situ until June 1997, when Fianna Fáil bounced back under Bertie Ahern’s leadership and returned to power alongside the PDs once again.
In Laois-Offaly in 1992, the Spring Tide was evident with Labour electing a TD in Pat Gallagher in Tullamore who ousted the Birr-based Fine Gael TD Tom Enright who had first been elected in 1969. He would later come back and win the seat again in 1997 for a final time.
That 1992 was the last election for a generation of Fianna Fáil TDs in Laois-Offaly and the last time that Ger Connolly from Bracknagh and Liam Hyland from Ballacolla were on the ballot sheet. They were both re-elected but snapping at their heels was John Moloney from Mountmellick whose day would come in 1997. Also elected in Laois-Offaly that year was Brian Cowen, who topped the poll, and Charlie Flanagan.
TD of the Past – Patrick Gorry (Fianna Fáil)
Patrick Gorry from Kilcavan had a political career that spanned more than 30 years. A farmer, who studied in the Agricultural College in Glasnevin, he joined the IRA and sided with the republican side in the Civil War.
He unsuccessfully contested the 1923 General Election but won a seat in 1927 and again in 1932 before losing it in 1933. He regained the seat in 1937 and held it in all of the subsequent elections – 1938, 1943, 1944 and 1948 – before being defeated in 1951. He then spent three years in the Seanad.
A member of the Mountmellick Rural District Council, Laois County Council, the Beet Growers Association and the Agricultural Committee, he was also on the board of Midland Creameries. He died at the age of 69 in October 1965.
The Gorry family is still in Kilcavan to this day and his great-grandson, also Patrick, was part of the Kilcavan football team that won the Laois Junior ‘A’ championship in recent weeks.
Instagram Asks
It won’t exactly have RedC Polling shaking in their boots and we’re not for one second suggesting that it’s scientific.
But the LaoisToday ‘Instagram Asks’ series of votes over the weekend make for interesting reading. For what it’s worth – based on previous polls on the social media platform – it does tend to be a decent enough gauge of local public opinion.
We asked our audience there what way they’ll be voting in the upcoming General Election in Laois – we didn’t name individual candidates, just the party/grouping.
There were almost 1,500 responses. This is how it broke down.
- Independent or Other – 31%
- Fine Gael – 23%
- Sinn Féin – 23%
- Fianna Fáil – 22%
Separately, we gave four options for the biggest issue of this campaign. This how that fared out.
- Housing – 46%
- Immigration – 25%
- Healthcare – 23%
- Childcare – 6%;
The other issues that people let us know about? Cost of Living; Education; Disability Services; Environmental Protection; Agriculture; Sports Facilities; Road Signs.
Both of those polls were carried out over 24 hours from Friday evening last to Saturday evening and we’ll repeat them over the course of the campaign to see if there are any changes.
Have anything you’d like us to include in our Election Diary? Email info@laoistoday.ie with your suggestions.
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