The Candidate

The Candidate

All putting themselves forward for the coming election can change the way politics is done here – if they want to.

I would be surprised if those representing either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael would choose to do this.  Nor would I expect those presenting themselves as ‘Independent’ in the mould of Jackie Healy-Rae.

In effect many if not most elected Leister House representatives act in this parochial way to one degree or another.  That is one of the biggest obstacle we have to the radical change required at this stage.

Whatever about the conservative parties and their candidates and elected representatives, there can not be any excuse for those from parties with progressive political objectives.  The same applies to those individuals running as independents who also share a desire to effect meaningful and progressive change.

Would it not establish the atmosphere for the forthcoming election if all such candidates either made a declaration or incorporated a form of wording or set of objectives into their initial public statements and then at key points in the campaign , laying out something along these lines:

• That this is not a local authority election.  The issues are national.  Insofar as specific regions lack financial and logistic support, the solution lays at national level.
• That, if elected, the candidates focus would be on national issues.  Filling potholes and/or gaining advantage for any given constituent with a local authority or health service provider is not, and must not, be influenced by an elected national legislator.
• Furthermore, that constituents should not expect access to either a candidate or elected representative to lobby for advantage to services.  Where people do make such contact, they should be referred to the relevant service provider directly. If the system has broken down and people cannot get access to such services or feel discriminated against, such breakdowns are an issue of public service accountability.  These issues should and could be addressed publicly and nationally.
• That local elected representatives to County, City and Town Councils are better placed to comment on and argue for the betterment of locally provided services, though intervening to gain undue advantage for any given constituent is not their job either.  Rather their job is to hold the local authority to account wherever such services fall down.
• That the system that has encouraged clientelism through the years has failed and is undemocratic.  The explanation of this, in an educational and clear way to the electorate, would be doing everybody a great service and would have a radical impact, not least of all on the expectations of the electorate.

That all of this could be uncomfortable for some candidates is a given.  There has been an understandable expectation over many years that the man or women who can fix it for you gets the vote – or a stroke at least.   But these are different times.  People on the left and with more progressive ideas didn’t come into politics to fix potholes.  The people deserve better than this.  Recent events have exposed the failure of this type of politics and the poor quality of so many who have been elected to a national parliament.  For every voter who expects their local man/women to fix the local issue, there is at least one other who wants to see somebody who will break this trend.

The calibre of people putting themselves before the electorate can be really judged then.  No more hiding behind the nonsense that is ‘the local man’.

If one of the themes of this election becomes the breaking of the clientelist system then it will truly herald radical change.  Candidates have an opportunity – a responsibility even – to be the agents for this change.