Better late than never.
The official itinerary for the visit of Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald listed her arrival at St Mary’s Hall in Portlaoise for 11.30am on Wednesday.
Anyone who has ever attended a political visit will know one thing though: they’re rarely ever on time.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’ll be a bit of a delay. But in the frantic atmosphere of a General Election campaign, it’s 1.10pm by the time she arrives to the Portlaoise hall.
She’d earlier been to the National Learning Network just up the road. She’d been in Naas before that, in RTE radio before that and it was late last night when the RTE Leaders Debate finished up.
St Mary’s Hall is a facility that is the current home of the hugely successful and vibrant Portlaoise Panthers basketball club as well as being a hub of local life in Portlaoise for generations. In one part of it on this particular morning, there’s a music class going on for adults, in another part there’s an adult exercise class.
But by the time Mary Lou’s car pulls in, the Portlaoise Panthers representation have left, unable to wait any longer. In any case, there is still plenty of locals to meet and greet, those there delighted to shake hands with her.
At her side is the Laois Sinn Féin candidate Maria McCormack, who has replaced Brian Stanley as the party’s representative on the ballot sheet.
One lady is particularly thrilled to meet Mary Lou and there’s a strong connection with Maria, who helped care for the lady’s late husband in his dying days.
“You’re the best woman in Ireland,” she tells Mary Lou. “I’d love to see you in the top job.”
On a walkabout in the hall, Maria gives Mary Lou a brief history of the facility – and the massive need for a new fit-for-purpose sports facility for a town that is now home to close to 25,000 people.
Mary Lou even pleases the locals by dribbling a basketball from the centre circle and attempting a shot. The TV cameras of RTE and Virgin Media are on hand to capture the moment. It goes in, albeit after a few practice attempts. Maria gets her shot in too, and a bit quicker than Mary Lou managed it too, it must be said.
Among those she chats with and gives plenty of time to are Jason McInerney, Joey Ward and Maria Camon and her family.
There’s then even time for a brief sing-song with Matthew Geoghegan. Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is coming to town get an airing.
Mary Lou’s presence in Portlaoise so close to polling day is a strong show of support from Sinn Féin to Maria McCormack who is seeking to retain the seat for the party in the wake of the Brian Stanley fallout. Stanley, of course, is running as an Independent candidate on this occasion.
How confident are Sinn Féin of holding the seat?
“Well, I have huge confidence in our candidate, Maria McCormack,” says Mary Lou when chatting to LaoisToday at the end of the visit.
“I think she is a passionate, articulate advocate for the people of Laois. And I’m hopeful, I mean, we’ve felt a real growth and momentum behind the Sinn Féin message, especially over the last week.
“I think increasingly people appreciate that if you want change, we need to change the government.
“And for a change of government, it’s necessary to vote for Sinn Féin to lead the alternative. So yeah, I feel really good. The campaign has gone really, really well, including here in Laois.
“We really believe in Maria. And we wanted to ensure that the people of Laois have the best opportunity, the best candidate. Sinn Féin, obviously, has been strongly supported in this county for a very, very long time.
“And we want to continue the tradition of having strong Sinn Féin representation for the people of Laois.”
On St Mary’s Hall, she says it’s the exact type of facility that deserves massive financial support.
“Yeah, I’m here in St Mary’s having a look … you have the footprint for the correct facility, but it needs investment.
“And one of the things that we have committed to is to ring fencing of €1 billion of the Apple tax money for specific investment in communities like Portlaoise that have been left behind again and again and again.
“And this would be a prime example of the kind of project that we would be looking to finance.
“It’s 100% funding. We’re not looking for communities and families that are already under pressure to go crazily fundraising. This really has to be a boon for communities that felt the brunt of recession and austerity at a time when these taxes should have been collected.”
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