It has become de rigeur in recent years in GAA circles to not name the proper starting line-up until about an hour before throw in, lest you should be giving away any vital information about the composition of the mark-ups in a game. Indeed, it is often not only until the game has started that you know who is up against who and what strategic role they have been given for the task ahead.
In the same way we have been speculating on the make-up of our local councils and the European Parliament; up to now, we have been surmising what might happen. But with the closing of deadlines for putting your name forward, we too have a clearer idea of who is going and for whom in which area.
The campaigning has been underway for some time now from the candidates who have let it be known for some time that they would be contesting the election; but for the ones who have entered the field in the last week or so, they will be hitting the footpaths, braving the dogs and irate voters in the pursuit of a preference in the coming days.
I have to applaud all who have come forward to stand. They are more generous than I could ever be in this regard. They are willing to give of their time, if successful for the betterment of their community. They are all people who have an ideal of how things can be achieved, and of how things might have become stagnant over the years in terms of getting things done.
There is a wide range of skillsets among the candidates. Indeed, if they were all combined, there would be no need for an election at all because everything could be achieved without rancour and debate, but alas, that is not how it works.
However, above all else, they are showing that there is a dignity to be willing to say ‘I have a standpoint and I am willing to let you judge me on it.’ Elections might seem like an ample opportunity too for people to fire digs at one another, and while this is all acceptable in the cut and thrust of debate, it is when it goes beyond policies and relates to gender, ethnicity, physical attributes and attacks on family members that it becomes totally unacceptable.
The level of respect in shared public discourse has been withering away for some time, but has no doubt been fast-tracked by the globally-covered behaviour of disruptor candidates like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson who found a market for their obnoxiousness and for whom no bar is too low.
We all have a part of play in righting this. Remember, no snowflake ever things it is part of an avalanche. In the same way, the manner in which we treat those who seek our vote will be a measure of us. Debate wholeheartedly, but please respect those who have put their heads above the parapet. Good luck to you all. May the best ones win.
