“This is the way the world will end, not with a bang but with a whimper.” So concluded TS Eliot in his bleak, but powerful poem The Hollow Men.
If he could only witness the Local Elections in Galway, Eliot might conclude that if the upcoming elections even managed to raise a whimper it would be a marked improvement on what we see now.
It is no exaggeration, and many politicians have remarked on it, that there is little buzz, excitement, or anticipation that an election is in the offing. Even the posters, now adorning lampposts around the city, seem lacklustre and almost embarrassed to be there, reminding people to vote.
Somebody had to do something to spice things up. Step forward Labour’s Galway City Central candidate councillor Billy Cameron. A straight talker who does not mince his words, he recently released a statement accusing many of the Independent candidates in this year’s locals of not being really independent. Instead, as former members of Fianna Fáil and the PDs, they were secret supporters of the much reviled current Government.
Last week, another local councillor, writing as Insider in the Galway Advertiser, had a pop at the Independents’ ‘independence’, accusing most of the same set of candidates of being “former members of the Progressive Democrats [who] Insider believes the public will see these candidates for what they truly are”.
The statements ruffled a hell of a lot of feathers and now the Independents come out fighting saying they are what they are - Independents, not linked in any way to any party or Government.
Former PD and now Independent councillor Terry O’Flaherty has hit back at Cllr Cameron saying his view on the Independents is “misguided”.
“Cllr Cameron would be far better off to serve the people who elected him rather than engaging in cheap rhetoric and petty political point scoring,” she said. “I would like to point out that I chose to be an Independent councillor on the point of principle following the Government’s decision to remove medical cards from the over 70s.”
Cllr O’Flaherty pointed out that since her resignation from the PDs, she was approached by “no less than four political parties, including Labour”.
“The people of Galway including Cllr Cameron can rest assured that I will be remaining as an Independent and will not be joining any party during the course of the next council if I have the honour of being re-elected,” she said.
Mike Geraghty, a PD candidate in 2004 and an Independent candidate in this election, was sent running back to the dictionary after reading Cllr Cameron and then Insider’s remarks.
“I felt it necessary to consult a dictionary to reassure myself,” he said. “I found the following meanings of independent: not dependent or relying on others; free; autonomous; self-supporting; unwilling to be under obligation and….non-party! Yes I think that fairly covers my position!”
He also said he has never denied his previous links with the PDs.
“I was grateful for the opportunity of running in 2004 but party politics was not ideal for me,” he said. “In fact as early as March 2006 I was questioning both Justice and Health ministries on their performance in Government through the press. I resigned from the party in December 2006.”
Mr Geraghty added that any issues he has been involved in such as assisting Galway City Council in providing a workable pay and display parking system in Upper Newcastle and campaigning for the removal of a phone mast in the area has been done as an “independent community activist”.
Galway City Central Independent candidate Mike Cubbard has also come out fighting against the accusations.
“If I don a Manchester United jersey when I watch the Champions League final, does that mean I now play for Manchester United? The fact that I shook the hand of Labour President Michael D Higgins upon his re-election to Dail Éireann in the last election now means I am a member of the Labour Party?
“Again, I want to confirm I have never been a member of any political party, nor plan to be. I would say we have as coucnillors must be getting nervous as June 5 draws closer and they must feel I am in with a strong chance of ousting one of them.”
