Tom Welby is not among those who think that Independents candidates will be an irrelevancy at Election 2011. He feels Independents could have a significant role in the next Dáil, and in leading the way in reforming the Irish political system.
The Oughterard based county councillor Tom Welby will, today, formally announce that he is standing as an Independent candidate for Galway West in the March General Election. This will be Mr Welby’s second time standing for the Dáil, having run in 2007.
Cllr Welby’s entry into the race brings to seven the number of Independents standing in Galway West, the others being Dep Noel Grealish, councillor Catherine Connolly, disability campaigner Eamon Walsh, and Joe ‘Anglo Avenger’ McNamara.
However Independents are at risk in this election of being left on the sidelines in this election as people’s minds will be focused on national issues as never before and will be voting for a Government and Taoiseach, rather than just individual candidates - especially those not aligned with the major parties.
Cllr Welby believes that Independents could play an important role in the next Dáil, not as individuals holding the Government of the day to ransom, but as a grouping, seeking reform and advocating on national issues.
“The country has been run on autopilot for the last number of years and the political system is broken. I feel I can contribute to repairing that,” says Cllr Welby. “I have had meetings with Marian Harkin, Tim Broderick and other like minded Independents, and we have an agreement that if elected we will form a grouping to lobby for the west of Ireland and for the issues affecting the State, and in order to reform the political system. This will not be about narrow local interests.”
Cllr Welby’s base is in Connemara, where he enjoys wide support, having secured 2,584 first preferences in the 2009 Local Election. However general elections are different matters, and despite the widespread detestation out there for Fianna Fáil, Éamon Ó Cuív looks on course to be elected and take the lions share of the Connemara vote - making it a challenge for others to get a look in.
“In the last locals 16,000 votes were cast in Connemara,” says Cllr Welby, “and while Connemara has one-third of the population of Galway West it has only one-fifth of the representation. Pádraic McCormack got 1,400 in Connemara in 2007 and Michael D Higgins got 1,200. Neither man is running this time and there is a pool of votes to tap into. I have to build my profile in the city and the east of the constituency but it is achievable.”
Cllr Welby will be campaigning on the issues of health, enterprise, and reform of local government. “There has to be reform of the health system, it does not constitute value for money and we have thrown money at the system for no return,” he says.
At a time of economic depression, protecting and growing businesses that are able to survive the harsh climate is essential and this is one of Cllr Welby’s key platforms for Election 2011.
“Rates is a big issue for small businesses and businesses are struggling,” he says. “We need to have a rates subsidy in order for businesses to be able to survive. The money is there in the National Pension Reserve Fund which could be given to local authorities to give to businesses.
“It makes sense to keep businesses going, otherwise the staff are on social welfare, and unemployment will lead to a social timebomb.”
Cllr Welby describes Galway city as “the powerhouse of job creation” in the county, but he argues that while this should be maintained, it must not come at the expense of rural areas. “Rossaveal Harbour could be developed as a hub of industry in Connemara and the county council owns land in Oughterard that could be developed into a business park or site for R&D.”
Cllr Welby also wants to see substantial reform of government in Ireland so that the State is less centralised and local authorities have more power.
“The reason we have water problems in Co Galway is that the Department of the Environment has plans for an upgrade of the system, sitting on its desk for the last year but has not acted on it,” he says. “Councils bring things to a certain stage and then the Department strangles the investment.”
He is also keen to see major reform of local government and believes that the Galway city and county councils should be amalgamated. He argues that instead of having 30 councillors for the county and 15 for the city, a total of 40 should be elected to the new body. He also believes that services and departments could be amalgamated, thereby reducing costs increasing efficiency in providing services.
