All eyes will be on Castlebar this weekend and specifically the election count centre at the Royal Theatre where local man Enda Kenny is set to make history.
The big guns in media circles will be muscling in on our local patch, with their cameras poised and ready to catch the celebratory whoop of joy when Enda is deemed elected and on his road to becoming the first Mayo Taoiseach.
The country’s top colour writers will have their fingers on the home keys, ready to recount the joviality of the moment as Kenny is hoisted in the air on the shoulders of his dedicated grassroots team. This election campaign has provided excellent fodder for the country’s comic writers and comedians and no doubt there will be no ink spared over the coming days at the expense of our politicians.
Without doubt, when the first count is concluded, adrenaline will be coursing through Mr Kenny’s veins. Regardless of the fact that his own seat is more than secure, that moment when you are ‘deemed elected’ must bring with it a swell of pride and a rush of relief following an arduous and intense campaign.
But the real work for Enda is only starting. He has reformed the Fine Gael party since becoming leader in 2002. He has raised the party from the doldrums to almost definitely the main ruling party in Ireland after this weekend. Following the 2009 local elections, Fine Gael became the largest party in local government in Ireland, all under the stewardship of Enda Kenny.
Now his time has come but with that an immense responsibility.
The people of Ireland are tired, beaten, deflated, downtrodden. But we want change and most of all we need hope. The responsibility is now with Enda to restore that hope. Ireland won’t be reformed overnight. It is going to take time to implement measures and assess those measures and decide if they are the correct measures to ‘Get Ireland Working’ - one of the great clichés of Fine Gael’s election campaign.
Fine Gael’s proposals may not be to everyone’s liking and only time will tell. No doubt the opposition parties will keep the new taoiseach in check and the Irish electorate, who have engaged in this election campaign like no other, will have to maintain their vigilance to ensure the next government deliver on their promises.
If you are looking for some fun this election weekend log onto www.finegael2011.com/game/ where you can help Enda collect his first preference votes through a computer game and secure his seat in the Dáil. It’s only a bit of fun but caught me a little by surprise as I perused the Fine Gael website following this week’s leaders’ debate in search of Fine Gael policy.
Now, back to reality. It’s election day. By now you have either voted or are heading out to do so. If you are not then shame on you — this is going to be the most important election in a generation and if you are going to effect change then you must use your vote.
Unless you haven’t been inspired by any of Mayo’s 15 hopefuls!
I’m not going to make any empty predictions. It’s going to be a tough contest and the consensus is that Fine Gael will return four with one Fianna Fáil or alternatively three Fine Gael, one Fianna Fáil, and one other of Michael Kilcoyne or Dr Jerry Cowley. There may be some surprises. By Sunday we will know for sure.
Either way we can be pretty confident that in a matter of hours history will be made and we’ll have the first ever Mayo taoiseach.
Toni Bourke
Editor [email protected]
