The increasing likelihood is that nine weeks tomorrow, the country will be going to the polls to vote in a new Government. Despite the denials of An Taoiseach and An Tanaiste who seem insistent that they will run the full course to bring the Government into early Spring, there seems little doubt but that the cold and wet days of February will be eschewed in favour of a pre-Christmas election count.
Done and dusted by the time the first Christmas parties are held, you can sense that whiff of electoral sulphur in the air. Around all of the party conventions, there is talk of reputations being left on the dusty dance floors after all the chairs have been pushed back and the delegates head home.
There is no doubt that the nomination of Grainne Seoige in Galway West and former city mayor Clodagh Higgins in Galway East, both of which have come out of the blue, will add a touch of intrigue to the counts in both areas.
The decision by respected GP Dr Martin Daly to potentially run in Roscommon Galway means that all three of Galway’s constituencies will have a bit of craic about them, come the lengthy counting days around November 16-18. There will no more be an air of boring predictability about any of Galway’s political constituencies.
It is hoped that whoever wins through in the end will use whatever attributes they have to highlight the need for further investment in this region, to make it a place where people want to work, live, study or visit.
All three constituencies have at least one retiring TD, ensuring there will be change in the three groups of deputies who will be returning to Leinster House when all is done and dusted.
Perhaps it is that assurance of change that will get people interested in politics again. Young and new blood. Celebrity participation. The realisation that people need to stand up if they want to get the kind of society they require. Whatever it takes.
While it might be dismissed as pizazz, the decision by Taylor Swift to inform her fan base that she has considered the options in her election and made a choice, might, you would hope, encourage others to be more considered when it comes to deciding whether to vote or not. To look, to consider and to decide.
At least now in the most recent elections, there is an alternative to the politics of hate and division; of populism and extremism.
There will always be accusations of opportunism, but change and our role in it can only be assured if we have the courage to stand up for what we believe in and to actively pursue that goal.
Nine weeks and counting. Those days will fly by. Use the time to think, to make your choice, to decide if you should put your head above the parapet. The world is changing, but change begins in your own backyard.
