There are difficulties on the doorsteps for Fianna Fail councillors these days and I suppose this does not come as a surprise to readers, as there are many people out there with grievances against the party for the manner in which they are seen to have managed the economy.
As a result the local councillors are coming under fire for the sins of their fathers in Dail Eireann at the senior cabinet table and Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick makes no secret of the fact that people are not entirely happy with what has gone on in recent months and how the government has handled the country’s economy.
Mistakes
There are difficulties on the doorsteps according to Cllr Fitzpatrick, who hails from the Sion Road, because he says mistakes have been made.
“There are certain decisions that people are not happy about that Fianna Fail have taken in recent times and we can’t blame the public for this. There have been mistakes. Taking the medical card from the over 70s was not right and it was badly handled and badly explained. I was one of the councillors who led the revolt against this proposal and demanded that it be revoked and thankfully we won.
Top tax rate
“We do need to address the state of the economy and this will be addressed next week in the mini budget but we can start by looking at a top tax rate for those on higher pay. It is time to spread the pain. Those earning modest wages are already feeling the pinch and those who are on high salaries have not been touched. This needs to change. People have been getting away with it for too long now and it is making the lower paid very angry to see those on higher salaries untouched by the recession. High earners need to pay the price that ordinary people are paying.”
Banks
Cllr Fitzpatrick also believes that the banking crisis needs to be dealt with fairly and in doing this he means that people need to pay for their mistakes and these mistakes should never be allowed to happen again.
“There needs to be accountability in our financial sector. It is quite obvious to me that Michael Fingleton needs to go. His salary and subsequent bonuses were outrageous and indefensible. Ordinary people need to know that this behaviour is unacceptable and will never happen again,” he added.
It’s not easy being a Fianna Fail councillor in this climate and although Fianna Fail seems to have improved in popularity in the most recent poll, they are certainly suffering more than most political parties. It is a good time to be a Fine Gaeler or a Labour person at the moment and it must be hard for the government councillors to knock on doors at pre-election time, when many are suffering the consequences of our down-trodden economy and the finger of blame is being pointed at the current government.
“It is hard when you talk to people first off but most people see us local councillors as the people on the ground in their locality. We are not the decision makers and we bring their issues to our local minister John McGuinness who in turn brings them to the table in the Dail and this is how we do our jobs. This is not the first time people will have met us canvassing. We are on the streets most Saturdays in the year and we have spoken to many of the people before and they know who we are. For us it is all about our team. We are community-based and we get a positive reaction because we reflect what the community want and we deal with their issues everyday. The real poll is on June 5 next and then we hope that the hard work will pay off and bring us through.”
Cllr Fitzpatrick is an old pal of Junior Minister John McGuinness and along with Andrew McGuinness and Joe Reidy makes up a team that canvasses throughout the year and holds clinics together. Cllr Fitzpatrick believes that this is an effective way of getting business done.
“John and myself go back a long time. I was his director of elections on two occasions and I have been a Fianna Fail member for about 20 years. I admire him and his commitment to people, his willingness to listen and understand what ordinary people want. I was co-opted onto Kilkenny County Council in 2003 when John was prevented from sitting following the introduction of the dual mandate. I was then elected in 2004. I love my council work and I love working for ordinary people. My day job at Rehab brings me into contact with people and often my two jobs work hand in hand as I can help people through my council work. We as a team concentrate a lot on communities and you can really see the benefits of a community working together. You can see it in The Father Mc Grath Centre, in the Newpark Resource Centre and other centres like them around the city. There is great satisfaction in developing communities. It is here that you learn about the real issues on the ground.”
The issues
The real issues include housing, social needs and development of play areas and infrastructure according to Cllr Fitzpatrick. He is determined that Kilkenny cannot be left behind anymore in its development. He believes in the brand that is Kilkenny and says that this needs to be nurtured in order for it to work to our benefit. He also wants to see the ringroad completed and work to begin on the inner relief road.
“ I am a supporter of the inner relief road as I think that it will relieve a lot of the traffic from the inner city roads such as Dominic Street and Steven Street. The traffic in these streets is not sustainable and the residents deserve better. I hope the inner relief road will go ahead. I don’t think it is a plan just to facilitate developers, I think it is required infrastructure. Kilkenny needs to move with the times and not get left behind. This will facilitate the development of the city and as long as we ensure that it is sensitively done, it will be a good thing. We can’t sit around - we need to progressively develop and we can’t sit on our laurels.”
Cllr Fitzpatrick is also concerned about the power that the local authority has and believes that more power should be allocated by central government to the local authorities. He is concerned for the local government fund which has been dramatically cut this year and he hopes that this will not affect the progression of certain projects in Kilkenny, including the library project, He also wants the housing list to be tackled more aggressively in a bid to get people housed in good time.
He called on the council to confer more with public representatives in regard to housing people on the local authority housing list.
“We are the people on the ground. We know where is a good location for particular people or families. We are dealing with these people every day. There have been bad decisions made in the past and these could have been avoided with better consultation,” he added.
And his dream for the future...
“To see John McGuinness promoted to a senior ministerial role. This would be for the betterment of Kilkenny - we need a senior minister. Jim Gibbons was the last senior minister we had and it’s time that we had representation at this level again,” he concluded.
