“What you have to do is spend a couple of hours a week, calling back to the people you canvassed leading up to the election, to let them know you haven’t forgotten them. Not everyone will be able to come up to you if they have a problem, so it’s important to go back to them yourself to see what you can do for them.” While she hasn’t been elected yet and faces a tough battle to take one of the nine seats in Castlebar Town Council’s chamber, Labour candidate Bernie Courtney has a clear plan as to how she will stay connected with the constituents if they put their faith in her this summer.
Ms Courtney works as a dentist for the HSE in schools from Castlebar to Ballina and has been a long time Labour voter, getting her feet wet on the canvass trail in the last general election with her party colleague Harry Barrett. “I suppose I have always had an interest in politics, but before, with children and work I didn’t really have the time to get involved, but now I believe I can give my all to it. I have been the parents’ representative on Mayo VEC for the past four years, and think I can offer something new to local politics in Castlebar.”
Splitting up the pack
While the Labour Party has been represented on Castlebar Town Council for the past few decades by Johnny Mee, who has stepped aside in recent months to allow Harry Barrett be co-opted on to the council at the next monthly meeting, getting two people elected to a council that has traditionally spilt itself between the two major parities could be difficult task. The party has held two seats on the council before, with Michael Kilcoyne holding one before he split from the party just before the last local elections. But Ms Courtney believes she can take a seat alongside her running mate Barrett. “I do think that the party are strong enough to take two seats in the town this time. Socialist policies and politics have been coming back strong in people’s minds in the recent past and with the current economic situation people can see the values that the Labour party stand for in Ireland and what we are trying to do.”
Working for the community
While policies of her party on a national front may be catching on, Ms Courtney believes that a lot of co-operation is needed at local level to ensure that everything moves in the right direction for the betterment of the town. “You can’t change everything by yourself, even at the smallest local level, you need a lot of co-operation from your own party and then across the board from all the other parties on the council. At town council level, everyone is generally looking out for the betterment of the town first.”
That said, there are a number of issues that Ms Courtney believes need to be seriously examined by the council, “I really want the council to have a real hard look at the planning situation in the town and to make sure that planning permission is not allowed in inappropriate areas, such as former school grounds.”
Policing at weekends is another issue that Ms Courtney is keen to see the council take a role in, along with the Gardaí. “We have to have a serious look at policing on Friday and Saturday nights. It is the job of the council to highlight when there are issues and get involved. It’s not the gardaí’s fault, they are doing what they can and are stretched at times. I’d like to see the council get involved more with them and see what can be done.”
With spring coming this week, and the path to the doorsteps coming closer as the election slides into view, Ms Courtney is looking forward to getting out there and meeting. “I am looking forward to it, as I said earlier, not everybody can approach you, so when you call to them you find out what they need and you see what you can do for them.”
