With just over two months to go until the polls open and the public get to cast their ballot in the local elections, a new candidate has just entered the race in the Ballina area. This entrant has a long political history in his family and even counts a former Fianna Fáil TD as his uncle, so David Moffatt looks to have a lot going for him already. Except he’s not running on the Fianna Fáil ticket, he has embraced the red rose of Labour and will be his party’s only candidate in the highly competitive Ballina area. Moffatt himself has been involved in the Fianna Fáil party on a local level for a number of years, but his change of allegiance to the Labour party was brought about after Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore impressed him, according to the Crossmolina man. “I’ve been impressed by Eamon Gilmore’s positive message; jobs, his message of change and reform ties in with my thinking about what we need in politics now.”
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser this week Moffatt said he thinks that the time has come for people to embrace a change from the past Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael dominance in politics in north Mayo and generally throughout the country. “I see this as a positive step, the Labour party are putting themselves out there as a genuine alternative for the people. The party had support of up to 22 per cent up until recently and, while we had a drop in the last opinion poll, I firmly believe that when the next poll is done we will bounce back up.”
Thinking locally
While national party support is one thing, Moffatt is thinking locally and what needs to be done on the ground for the people in the area he wants to represent. “The big issue for everyone here is jobs, for too long the Government rode along on the construction bubble and concentrated too much on jobs in that industry. It’s time that we started to get alternative sources of employment into this area. Our biggest sales point here in north Mayo is our environment, that includes our rivers, lakes, land, and scenery. We have to keep pushing ourselves forward as tourist destination and show off north Mayo as best we can.” Selling north Mayo as a tourist destination is one thing, but getting the infrastructure in place to ensure that people will come is something else that has to be a priority, reckons Moffatt. “We have an infrastructural deficiency into and out of the region, getting our road and rail networks upgraded is something that has to be a priority. When I was a student I used to make the trip from Ballina to Waterford by train, so I have first hand experience of what the services are like, and if the Ballina area is to grow we have to get these things done.”
David Moffatt.
While David has plenty of experience behind the scenes in local politics, this time he is putting himself front and centre and asking people to put their faith in him, something that he is looking forward to. “It’s going to be different all right, all the pressure is going to be on me this time and I’m going out there knocking on doors asking people to put their faith in me. From now on until June 5, I’ll be out there knocking on doors, going to public meetings and doing all I can to get elected and represent the people of the Ballina area to the best of my abilities. People are looking for a change and I and the Labour party can offer that change to the people.”
