It could have been a political brawlfest, but wasn't,
writes Brian Byrne. In fact, at the end of around two hours of non-stop discussion, the full house of voters who had turned up to last night's
Meet The Candidates event in Newbridge should certainly have left with a more clear sense of the people looking for their ballot choice.
Well, ten of them anyhow.
Patricia Ryan of Sinn Fein sent her apologies. "Probably didn't need to be here given the way the opinion polls are going," moderator
Shane Beatty gently quipped in what was admirably his only personal thought of the whole evening. Ivan Yates he isn't, which puts him in the upper levels of debate management.
Indeed, it was his pleasant but always firm hands on the reins that went a long way towards maintaining momentum and also ensuring that each of the candidates got a fair share of the event.
Organisers
Newbridge Community Development and
Kilcullen Community Action had gauged the topics as people came in, handing out green and red dots to stick on panels for their most pressing and least bothered interests.
This gave the moderator a loose running order of concerns. These turned out to be housing, health, childcare, crime, climate action, and transport. Each would develop sub-issues through the evening, and there was also the matter of treatment of defence forces.
In classic style, each on the podium was given a minute to introduce themselves, the sequence previously chosen by lot.
Independent
Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy has been a Councillor since 2014, and reckons the 'crumbs received from party politics' are far short of what Newbridge deserves. "I believe in public representation that asks the hard questions, and that the community is never sacrificed for personal gain."
Fianna Fail deputy
Fiona O'Loughlin has 30 years of involvement in the 'civic and social' life of Newbridge, a 'great community which needs to be harnessed. "I have a particular interest in disability and special needs, and believe passionately in people having a really good quality of life."
Her FF running mate
Cllr Suzanne Doyle highlighted the 'huge changes in community life' which need 'balance and common sense' to manage, in particular economic vibrancy and services that keep pace with needs. "There are too many people commuting, we need to recalibrate that, which would also help to address the carbon footprint. The one thing you can't give back to people is time."
Linda Hayden noted her founding membership of the Social Democrats in Kildare South, coming from her activism against sexual crime to the realisation that 'you can't just care about one issue'. "We need and deserve sustainable and affordable communities, and the services which the elderly and vulnerable all deserve."
Independent
Dr Cathal Berry cited his farming, equine, army and doctoring backgrounds and career, and his belief in public service. "I'm very familiar with what should be Ireland's place in the world, and I have a unique blend of skills to deal with my priorities."
Kilcullen resident
Anita Mhic Gib of Aontú said she decided to run because an old person had told her she was 'afraid of getting sick'. "There are people who can't get into hospital, there's rising crime, the abnormal has been normalised and people who can make a real difference are being ignored."
The Green Party's
Ronan Maher, an engineer working in IT, is a 'problem solver'. "I break big problems into small pieces and make solutions. We need problem solvers to deal with climate change, and we need better public transport as part of that."
Outgoing TD
Martin Heydon, in the Dail since 2011, said he has used his national position 'to help locally', delivering inter alia further education capacity including more ASD units, and working with the Council to try and get a second bridge for Newbridge. "I'm proud to be fighting for more funding for Kildare South, and want to be re-elected to continue that."
Cllr Mark Wall, from his family and south Kildare's Labour tradition, has been a Councillor since 2009 and this election 'is all about choices' to deliver community healthcare, social and affordable housing, fairness to the defence forces, and sustainable commuting. "Commuting is a huge issue, and the big thing is its effect on people's quality of life."
Roisin Ui Bhroin, for People Before Profit, describes herself as a mother and musician, and read a prepared statement with a certain lyrical quality about 'imagine an Ireland designed around the common good'. "People Before Profit are offering very real solutions in matters such as healthcare and child care. Ever since the foundation of the state, governments have been led by either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, and it is time for change."
The discussion opened with the moderator throwing the housing issue right into Martin Heydon's lap. "Ten thousand people homeless, why would people keep voting for you?"
The deputy admitted 'progress isn't as good as we would like', but there had been seven years after the recession when nothing could be built — a party electoral policy clip at Fianna Fail's pre-crash management. He pointed to the housing built over the last two years by the current administration. "We're ramping that up now, when we have money we didn't have before."
Fiona O'Loughlin said that Fianna Fail 'did not support the housing policies of Fine Gael', outlining differences in policy between the two parties. "It's a shocking situation. Between 2011 and 2018 there were 158 council houses built in Kildare. The seven years prior to that there were 1,236 built under Fianna Fail." She criticised the policy of local authorities 'acquiring' houses rather than building them, thus competing with those in the private sector who wanted to buy their own homes.
On the same issue, Fiona McLoiughlin Healy said that the remit of the Land Development Agency needs to be 'extended' to deal with the matter. She noted that much of the money given for affordable housing was routed into Approved Housing Bodies, on which 'oversight is very poor'.
For Ronan Maher, council-owned land in the centre of Newbridge should be used to build accommodation, and the Green Party will strengthen the protection for those who rent. He referenced the 'Vienna Model', where he said 70pc of accommodation rental stock is owned by the city.
The topic attracted a question from the audience about those in housing cooperatives for decades, and who only recently found that at the end of the contract period they would not be able to buy their homes. Suzanne Doyle agreed that this is the case in many AHBs, but that legislation to change it put forward had not made it through the Oireachtas.
The money for Labour's plan to build 80,000 social houses over four years is available from the Credit Unions, Mark Wall said. He noted that Kildare County Council has land banks, and 'let's use both of those to build council homes again'.
For the Social Democrats, making housing a constitutional right was part of the solution proposed by Linda Hayden. The use of public land, and a diversion of HAP scheme money 'going to fund private landlords' could result in 100,000 houses built over five years.
Cathal Berry noted that the banks have 800 repossessed houses on their books, and the state should go in buy these, 'and take 4,000 people off the housing lists'.
Anita Mhic Gib suggested that protecting the value of developers' land was a reason why state and NAMA land banks are not being released for social and affordable housing.
The health issue was also lobbed first at Martin Heydon, the moderator citing trolley figures and the bussing to the North of people to get faster treatment as indicating the situation is a 'mess'.
The deputy agreed that there are 'huge challenges', though pointing to very good cancer and stroke outcomes as positives. He cited Slainte Care as a cross-party agreed model for the future, acknowledging the Social Democrats lead in the initiative. "We can't keep the current model, but we have 110 Primary Care facilities in place and we plan 80 more. We want diagnostic capabilities in these."
Linda Heydon said her party could give everyone healthcare 'from cradle to grave' with a set-up cost of €500m. "That's expensive, but can be delivered by better management." She cited the Children's Hospital as an example of management failure, saying 'we have a government with no will to call people to account'.
Drawing on her experience as a former nurse and being married to a GP, Fiona McLoughlin Healy said Fine Gael is 'detached from reality' if it expects doctors to 'step up their work' without consulting them. "We have too few GPs, they work weekends just to do the paperwork. What's needed is to give them the support and services in the communities."
Fiona O'Loughlin's party's solutions include hiring more consultants, providing more help for GPs, giving medical cards for need rather than 'fitting into an age category', and providing more home help so people don't need to stay in hospitals.
From Mark Wall came the suggestion that the money spent on agency nursing staff by the HSE would be better employed giving the nurses permanent jobs. "Also, older people want to stay in their homes. It's because we're not providing home help that so many people are ending up on trollies."
On the related issue of mental health services, Anita Mhic Gib described the level of service as 'shocking'. "It's impossible to get an appointment for a child to be seen unless he or she is harming themselves."
A comment from the audience noted that 95pc of public money devoted to older people 'goes to nursing homes' and that Ireland is 'not a good country to grow old in', with 'loneliness and isolation worse than cancer'. The 60 volunteers in Newbridge who have 'given 500 hours of support' to older people were referenced to loud applause.
Child care was the next hot topic, with Linda Hayden highlighting the Social Democrats proposals for government-funded assisted childcare, that could be started from a low base 'but would grow'. "We want people to have affordable lives, including the right to a four-day working week. If we don't deal with the quality of life, we're setting the next generation up for failure."
For Anita Mhic Gib, the crucial issue here is 'not valuing' childcare workers. She advocated 'fixing the insurance issue first' which could allow for better treatment of those working in the area. "Some of them even have degrees, and we treat them awfully."
Ronan Maher's solution would involve bringing child care 'back into public ownership'. "The market has failed, chain groups are charging exorbitant fees. We also need to provide proper remote working facilities, so people can spend more time with their children."
Describing the current situation as a 'supply issue', Suzanne Doyle suggested that zoning spaces specifically for child care, and co-locating the services where most needed would help deal with that.
The Labour position would involve a 'national child care scheme', according to Mark Wall. The party would provide an initial investment of €60m and 'roll out more' funds as needed.
From the government side, Martin Heydon headlined the 'myriad of pressures' on the childcare situation. He spoke of the judicial commission appointed to 'bring down the insurance costs', and the need to address what he called a 'duplication' of inspection and regulation which was a 'challenge' for providers.
For People Before Profit, Roisin Ui Bhroin said a guaranteed access to childcare could be funded by dealing with the 'tax haven' status of the country and getting a better return from the multinationals here.
Cathal Berry would push for large public sector organisations, including the defence forces, hospitals, and airports, to provide their own creche facilities for their employees.
Child care is a 'gender issue', according to Fiona McLoughlin Healy, who noted that most early childcare educators are women, and many operators can't afford to pay themselves for large parts of the year.
Fiona O'Loughlin headlined her party's promise to quadruple the child care subsidy, take the commercial rates burden off operators, and support capital investment in the sector. "The most important carer is the parent," she added. "We should support them by providing jobs closer to home, and support those who choose to stay at home with their children."
When it came to discussion on crime, Ronan Maher highlighted the situation on Irish Rail trains and called for the provision of a 'proper transport police' to protect both commuters and train staff. He also wants more gardai in the constituency so they can 'get out in the community'.
On that, Anita Mhic Gib described last year's changes in the Garda District as 'only moving the deckchairs'. She said that the gardai are 'stressed', not even able to walk the beat, and that 'crime is all over the constituency'.
With 'one of the lowest numbers of gardai per head in the state', Mark Wall said people 'want to see them walking around'. "They're behind their desks doing paperwork, which should be a civilian job," he said, and gained sustained applause when he called for an extension of the Criminal Assets Bureau to 'deal with the drug dealers'.
Suzanne Doyle 'totally' agreed with his CAB comment, saying drugs are a commercially driven crime. "Take the money, the cars, all the proceeds of crime," she said, also calling for preventive preventative measures at an early age to keep youngsters from getting involved with the business.
The crime and drugs issue brought a number of comments from the audience. One person referenced the horrific attack on two gay people at Newbridge Station. "This was a hate crime. I'm gay, and I want my town back. There are people who won't even bring their children down the back street because of what you hear there."
Audience contributions about drugs included treating the issue as a health problem, citing the 'Portugal model', and suggesting decriminalisation. That led to moderator to seek the views on decriminalisation from the candidates.
Fiona McLoughlin said there needs to be a 'mature debate' on decriminalisation. Fiona O'Loughlin said she had 'mixed views' on the matter, but 'we need to be very strong' on drug crime. Suzanne Doyle would not support legalisation of drugs. Linda Hayden 'fully supports' decriminalisation and safe injection sites, but drug dealers should be 'gone after'.
Dr Cathal Berry has no problem with 'medicinal' usage, but we need 'to get tough' on the matter otherwise. Anita Mhic Gib said 'go after the drug barons' who cause 'misery', and is emphatically against decriminalisation'. Ronan Maher is in favour of decriminalisation, referencing the Portugal experience.
Martin Heydon would support legalising medicinal use but 'would struggle' with decriminalisation because of the 'untold damage wreaked on communities' by drugs. Mark Wall supports medicinal use but 'would need convincing' on decriminalisation. Roisin Ui Bhroin supports decriminalisation of what is a 'health issue' and would put the matter to a Referendum to let the people decide.
A question on the stance of candidates about the development of any new fossil fuel infrastructure, including importing 'fracked' gas, elicited emphatic negative responses from Linda Hayden and Ronan Maher. Fiona O'Loughlin said any use of fracked gas 'needs to be phased out', and Martin Heydon cautioned that 'we have to be realistic, we can't stop fossil fuel use overnight'.
The treatment of members of the defence forces was raised from the floor as 'the elephant in the room'. Issues such as 'homeless soldiers couch-surfing with friends', a 'lack of respect for the families of soldiers serving our country', and defence forces families 'in poverty' were raised. Martin Heydon took the brunt of the attack, being criticised for 'standing by as €18m a year unspent was handed back to the exchequer', and for 'wages slashed' by recent governments.
The deputy mounted a robust defence that the issue 'was in place before Fine Gael was in government', that the allowances were cut in the recession, and that he had raised the matter many times in the Dail. "I could have put myself outside the party on it, but then I would not have been able to do anything. The defence forces were failed in the past because of historically low levels of pay, and the only way we can fix this is in the public sector pay talks which are starting very shortly."
Cathal Berry described the situation as 'exploitation and betrayal' that wouldn't be allowed to happen in any other walk of life. He suggested that in the event of no improvement, the forces members' contracts could be referred to the Attorney General as 'highly illegal'.
Linda Hayden said the sector 'didn't have a voice' and her party would give them that and ensure a 'full restoration of pay'.
Fiona O'Loughlin pointed to her record of 'marching with the soldiers and their families' in protest and bringing the relevant Oireachtas Committee to the Curragh Training Centre 'to see how bad things were'.
Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy also pointed out that she had marched and protested outside Leinster House, and that she fully supported pay restoration.
Mark Wall said his party would 'totally support' the provision of a full cabinet minister for defence to help deal with the defence forces homeless issue and veteran soldiers. "I cannot stand over the fact of young defence forces families coming into my clinics and filling in Supplementary Welfare forms."
Other matters raised before the event closed included the need to provide more fair rail charges for commuters through to Portarlington, issues of rural transport, disability services, and farmers and climate change.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you got this far, you'll know it was a long read. I make no apologies for it, there was a lot said, and in the last week before the election I figured I should cover the key local debate as best I could.
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