The west of Ireland is still being neglected for major infrastructural development and the region’s MEPs are out of touch with the people on European issues, so new voices and new thinking is needed.
This is the view of Cllr Pádraig MacLochlainn, the Sinn Féin candidate for North-West in next year’s European Elections. Cllr MacLochlainn is from Buncrana and is a member of Donegal County Council.
The North-West constituency comprises Connacht and the three Ulster counties in the Republic. In the 2004 EU Elections, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty - now a senator, but then a virtual unknown - came close to being elected, and secured the highest first preference of any candidate in the 11 county constituency with 86,000 votes.
Sen Doherty’s strong showing; this year’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty; and the tide of anger at Fianna Fáil post-Budget 09 has produced a mood of confidence within Sinn Féin that it could be ‘the dark horse’ in next June’s elections.
“We’re in with a fighting chance,” Cllr MacLochlainn told the Galway Advertiser this week.
The spectre of a re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum is hanging over the heads of the Irish electorate and Government. As such, Lisbon, the EU, and Ireland’s place in it will be a major part of next’s June’s campaign.
While the rejection of Lisbon by the Irish electorate came as a shock to the continent, the No vote was in fact quite easy to understand. Voters were concerned about certain aspects of the treaty and felt it was not being explained to them by the Government.
The sight of An Taoiseach Brian Cowen and EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy declaring they had not read the treaty undermined the Yes vote they were advocating.
Cllr MacLochlainn says the No vote to Lisbon demonstrates that mainstream parties are “out of touch” with the public on this issue.
“The three North West MEPs - Sean Ó Neachtain, Jim Higgins, and Marian Harkin - all campaigned for a Yes vote, but Galway, and this constituency overall, voted by a majority against it. That shows they are out of tune,” he says.
“The public obviously disagrees with them so I am challenging them to voice the concerns of the people and ask the EU to re-negotiate this treaty. The French and the Dutch rejected it in its earlier form. There are concerns with Lisbon in Poland and the Czech Republic so we are not alone.”
Re-negotiating Lisbon has been a key demand for SF but any such move would be resisted by EU leaders. Cllr MacLochlainn believes the Irish will be made vote on it again is convinced it cannot be re-presented to voters without alteration.
“Unless there are amendments any re-run of Lisbon would be a slap in the face to the people of Ireland and our democratic right to express our concerns,” he said. “My message to the voters is that Sinn Féin is in tune with the electorate and that we will fight for your rights and concerns.”
Cllr MacLochlainn is keen to stress that Ireland’s rejection of Lisbon is not a rejection of the EU. “The Irish want to be at the heart of the EU,” he says. “The Government needs to negotiate with the EU in confidence and Sinn Féin’s EU election campaign will be positive.”
Tip O’Neill once famously remarked: “All politics is local.” As such, issues like transport, infrastructure, and clean water will be as high, if not higher on the agenda than Lisbon itself. Cllr MacLochlainn says these issues will also be part of his campaign.
“Infrastructure within the city is important given the traffic congestion Galway experiences,” he says, before referring to the building of the second bridge over the Corrib - a proposal that is still controversial.
“We have met with the Chamber of Commerce on this,” he says. “They would have pushed home the case for the bridge from the point of view of economic development. SF is willing to listen to all sides but our perspective is that we need to get traffic away from the city and infrastructure which can help do that is essential.”
Cllr MacLochlainn also describes the construction of the West Regional Corridor railway and the Atlantic Road Corridor as “crucial to the west of Ireland”.
“These have been promised time and again by the Government,” he says, “but they are not yet delivered. Road and rail progress is being made in the east of the country, but the west is getting left behind again.”
