“Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil. Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil. Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil.”
At Portlaoise Train Station on Friday evening, as commuters come down the stairs and make their way to waiting cars, Austin Stack is busy getting his leaflets into as many hands as possible.
He was late into the race, only added to the ticket on the morning the election was actually called.
A couple of weeks ago he was even out canvassing with Sean Fleming but he says when he was asked by Fianna Fáil, he couldn’t turn down the opportunity.
He has been fascinated by politics all his life but he accepts that time is not his friend on this occasion.
He only retired from the prison service earlier this year. He’s only recently finished treatment for prostate cancer.
It has been a rush to get leaflets and posters.
But he’s getting to as many doors as he can, particularly around Portlaoise. He’s spent the day in various estates in the town and as the evening trains arrive he’s joined by Alison Curtis (not the radio presenter!) as well as Ogra Fianna Fáil members Jake Delaney from Ballaghmore and Joey Kennedy from Portarlington, who contested the recent Local Elections.
Joey has been in a couple of constituencies, lending support to various Fianna Fáil candidates, chiefly Fiona O’Loughlin in nearby Kildare South and Mary Fitzpatrick in the bear pit that is Dublin Central. He proudly tells us that Bertie Ahern, no less, was on that particular canvass.
Many getting off the trains are students, some are commuting from work in Dublin. After a long week, you can sense they all just want to get home. There’s not a huge amount of engagement.
The mornings are better, Austin concedes, when people are waiting for their train.
“Fianna Fáil, no thanks,” says one person. “Fianna Fáil, yeah give me that,” says another, before adding, “F**k Sinn Féin.”
Austin, of course, has his own history with Sinn Féin and he came to particular prominence in recent years as he campaigned for justice for his late father Brian, who was shot by the IRA in 1983 and died a little over a year later.
His campaign brought him face to face with Gerry Adams but he told us on on our podcast interview earlier in the week that he’s not simply just an anti-Sinn Féin candidate.
In that same interview he also recalled vividly his memories, as a child, of his father being shot and the impact it had on him. He’s set to publish a book next year.
His Fianna Fáil credentials run deep. An Ógra member in the 1980s, he rose up through the ranks of the organisation and was regularly at meetings in Leinster House, where Charlie Haughey would drop in.
As we chat between trains arriving, he does a wonderful Haughey impression and recalls his involvement in various campaigns over the years that he was heavily involved in – in Dublin, Kildare and Laois.
He also chats about his memories of Local Elections in Laois. He went himself for the nomination to run in Portlaoise way back in 1991 but giants of the local Fianna Fáil scene like Joe Dunne, Jerry Lodge and Tom Jacob were ahead of him then in the pecking order.
His work in the prison service precluded him from being involved thereafter but with retirement from that role, he’s resumed his membership.
This campaign is a big ask but he doesn’t deny he’s looking at the bigger picture. A good showing here and he’ll move well up the ranks to be Sean Fleming’s successor.
That’s for another day. Another train has arrived.
“Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil. Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil. Austin Stack, Fianna Fáil.”
SEE ALSO – Check out all our 2024 General Election coverage here
SEE ALSO – Check out more from our ‘On the Canvass’ series here
