“1 in 4 - doth butter no parsnips!”

Despite the Summer recess, the world of Irish politics continues to turn ever so slowly. Our representatives are on a well deserved break, from their daily grind. However, continuing to fester away in the background, are our National problems associated with housing, hospital waiting list, homelessness and so on. Maddening us at every turn of our newspaper pages or swiping left, on our smart phones. These topics are now ever present in our conversations around the dinner table and of course, across social media. 

TDs taking their annual sojourn, tell us that they “Need Time off” to recharge their batteries and many disappear from the radar altogether. In truth, they are never really too far away from an opportunity to grab a few positive headlines. You’ll notice that they avoid ALL manner of calls for comments on the most difficult of subjects. Offer them the chance to kiss a baby, a ribbon to cut or an opportunity to show their pearly whites and WHOOSH they appear as if by magic, a bit like Mr Benn.

Our national and local representatives, have a keen eye when it comes to positive promotion. They’ll bite your hand off to get in front of the cameras, if the storyline is upbeat. As we move inexorably closer, to perhaps the last “Supply Agreement budget”, we can expect to see more and more cheesy grins across all media sources.

You’d swear that there was an election brewing?

Judging by the amount of local activity, you can see these various party people starting to position themselves, for a shot at City Hall. Despite being dormant for many years, the rumble of thunder in the distance, is calling them to start waking up from months/years of hibernation. Attempting to persuade us that they’ve been active since the last election – mmm? With tight timelines, start expecting to see many a “Call to action”, informing you just how busy they’ve been on your behalf! There’ll be many wanting to convince you that they’ve been delivering spades, despite being the invisible men and women, for some time now.

Nationally, each TD is constantly positioning himself/herself as “The Special One”. The only one who will get the right results for Waterford INC. “I’ll deliver on my manifesto once you elect me to power”, is a common mantra. One that never really delivers.

The truth is, that as Waterford is only a four seat constituency, we’ll never be seen by main stream politics, as an important or vital electoral district. Heavily outnumbered, we’re surrounded by some big hitting five seat wards. There’s the very real possibility, that the main parties are looking to secure a full house in each of these areas. Thus, strengthening their hand and dealing us, at best, a pair.

History informs us, that Waterford will probably return 1,1,1 and 1, at the next General Election. If as is rumoured, there are also single agenda candidates standing, our voice at the top table in Dublin could be further muted. Unless we very quickly find contenders with the genes of a Healy-Rea, our Independents will deliver little more than their own pension!

We appear to have been backed into a corner and seem to have only two options, in getting our voices heard. We either find four Independents, who can work with other political parties, thus holding the balance of power in a hung Government - but there are no guarantees with this. Or we need to elect three people from, two of the main parties, thus directly manipulating, a pro-Waterford Government policy and assuming they are part of the majority party. I would hazard a guess that the likes of Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Cork would not allow this to happen. After all, it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas.

At the moment, we’re in a very bleak political wilderness. Despite options that could, would and should work. Will you be brave enough to vote the right way? Irish politics relies on the same old, same old. Maybe Waterford needs to buck that trend and mix-up the map that defines our political principles?

Think bigger picture, when asked to make your mark.