Make your vote count this Friday
This Friday (June 5) we have some serious choices to make. We are electing local people to represent us on our local authorities for the next five years, and we're also selecting our members of the European Parliament. At a time when this country is struggling to make ends meet, those choices have never been more important.
It's easy to dismiss local elections as a sideshow, and EU votes as irrelevant, but our decisions, taken in the privacy of the polling booth, will effectively dictate the path we follow as a nation.
There is so much riding on the outcome of these elections.
If the opinion polls are to be believed, a Fianna Fail wipeout could spell the end of Brian Cowen's reign as Taoiseach, and it could also precipitate a general election. Returning the wrong candidates to Brussels could weaken our hand when decisions of vital national interest are being taken in Europe.
Those in power say we need to avoid political uncertainty at a time of economic crisis, while the Opposition claim it's only through a change in political leadership that we can pull ourselves out of this recessionary nosedive.
Either way, the choice is ours on Friday and it seems as if many voters will take the opportunity to give the Government parties a bloody nose. This is payback time for the income and pensions levies, and some voters will be registering a protest over how successive governments egged-on an overheating economy and facilitated the development of a culture of 'soft' regulation in our financial institutions.
Despite almost daily appeals from the Taoiseach for us to focus on the fact that these are, after all, local and EU elections, and not a referendum on Fianna Fail's handling of the economy, some of us are determined to register our anger when we get our hands on our ballot papers.
For others though, Friday is about doing the right thing by a neighbour or a friend who is standing for election. It's about securing a council seat for someone from your parish, and it really doesn't matter what flag they're flying under.
The focus on Friday will be a candidate's ability to get potholes filled, burst water pipes fixed and essential home repair grants secured. It's about a person's membership of, and contribution to, the GAA, the IFA or the ICA. The record of achievement will centre on the amount of Lotto funding secured for community development projects, and how many funerals and charity events they turned up at. It's the purest form of politics as we know it in this country, and that's what's been put before Longford voters this week.
While local elections always reflect the national political climate, they are about much more than that. Look at the battles that are going on for votes in north Longford, now that the electoral areas have been tampered with. There's the rift in Fianna Fail where party stalwarts failed to pass an interview to be selected to run in these elections, and those people are now contesting for votes against their natural allies.
What about the complete absence of a woman to seek election in the Drumlish electoral area? Could it be that there wasn't one female in the entire district that was deemed to be electable? There's also the return of a former TD to the local political scene and a number of new young candidates seeking to be the fresh, new voices in the County Council chamber.
When the excitement of next weekend's count is over, the stark reality facing the members of the next council will begin to hit home. Longford County Council, and the Town Councils in Longford and Granard, are facing into an uncertain time during the next five-year council term.
Funding from central government is not going to be as forthcoming as in recent years, and it may be that this group of councillors will face many difficult choices. How long will it be before water rates are re-introduced to make up for reduced government allocations? Will the level of service provided by our local councils be curtailed due to more cut backs, and what role, if any, can our local representatives have in choosing where the sparse resources will be spent?
Whatever the result of these local elections, the next council term cannot be dominated by the political posturing and name calling that so often substitutes for a form of relevant local representation.
The vast majority of people who will cast a vote this Friday couldn't care less who controls the council chamber, or who manages to win the political points scoring battles.
That's only important to the politicians and their egos, and with most of the real power in local authorities now resting with the councils' executive staff, the Punch and Judy performances that we see played out in the local media from time to time, are nothing more than councillors over estimating their self importance.
But as voters we are now charged with giving these people a mandate to represent us for another five years. Some see Town and County councillors as a waste of public money and in some cases they're viewed as just a necessary evil. But others will rely heavily on their local representatives to deal with matters as serious as housing, or access to medical care supports.
For some people having a local councillor working on their behalf can make a huge difference to their quality of life. County Longford faces massive challenges in the coming years and we need to make sure we have the right people in place to deliver for this place that we call home.
The votes cast in Ballymahon, Granard, Longford and Drumlish will decide who we, the general public, have on our team going into what could be called the 'heat of an economic championship match' and we need our best people wearing those Longford jerseys. The choice is ours; let's make it count on Friday.
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Weather for Longford, Ireland
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: North west
