Thank you
I am delighted and privileged to have been elected to represent the people of Dublin South in Dail Eireann. I am well aware of the enormous responsibility this carries, and will work hard to repay the trust that has been placed in me.
I am delighted and privileged to have been elected to represent the people of Dublin South in Dail Eireann. I am well aware of the enormous responsibility this carries, and will work hard to repay the trust that has been placed in me.
Out and about in Rathfarnham today with a terrific team of canvassers. They are pictured below with an Alex White poster salvaged from a garden where it has languished for the duration of the campaign. After weeks of canvassing I feel a little bit of empathy with the sign posted in one householder’s window, which reads “Attention chien en psychanalyse”!
We are coming to the end of a difficult, challenging but very rewarding few weeks. I am really grateful to all of the constituents who took the time to share their views, debate the points and offer words of support to myself and members of the campaign team.
Canvassers with Alex White poster Rathfarnham
Candidate identifies with dog
Speaking at launch of Labour’s Manifesto for Children
If this election is about anything, it is about families, about protecting children, and about securing a better future for our young people.
Ireland has the highest proportion of children in the EU, with almost one-quarter of our population below the age of 18. Yet, for too long, Ireland has fallen short of the aspiration that an independent Ireland would be a country that treated all the children of the nation equally.
We in Labour believe that children should have the best possible start in a world that has become vastly more uncertain and precarious. But this belief is not just a pious aspiration. We are today backing it up with a specific set of proposals in a children’s manifesto that we believe will deliver genuine change for children and for families.
First and foremost, we believe that our children should not be made to pay for the current economic crisis and for this reason, Labour will not cut child benefit, particularly in the wake of recent budgets in which family incomes have already taken a substantial hit.
Labour also believes that the delay in proceeding with the referendum on children’s rights has been unacceptable. Labour will ensure that a children’s rights referendum is urgently progressed.
It is our view that Ireland’s child protection code and system should be more robust. Labour is committed to putting in place the strongest, child-centred legal framework to protect children from sexual, physical, and mental abuse.
We have led the charge in proposing measures to develop, as an urgent priority, a national strategy plan to improve youth literacy levels, and will continue to prioritise literacy as an issue.
We are also putting forward proposals to ensure that every child should be guaranteed a high-quality preschool place with clear curriculum requirements, appropriate staffing professionals, conducted in an appropriate setting.
For Labour, the protection of families, children and childhood will continue to be a priority, even in these difficult times.
A lot of people ask me what it is like canvassing. It is an intensely social activity in which the object of the exercise is to meet with as many people face to face as possible. Political scientists have confirmed that the single most important factor influencing voters is whether they have met the candidate in the flesh. Our campaign has largely been built around door to door canvassing along with shopping centre and Luas appearances. It is a bit of a slog- especially in inclement weather- but it is also hugely rewarding. Everyone on a campaign loves the “feel good” moment. Here are some of mine.
I met the boys of St. Mary’s N.S. Rathfarnham on Thursday, February 17th as they poured out thee school gates and their energy, enthusiasm and eagerness ‘to meet the candidate’ literally bowled me over. I couldn’t get near the parents as I was prevailed upon to sign journals, hand out canvass cards and give ‘high fives’ to my junior fan base.
Outside Rathfarnham Church on Sunday morning, February 19th a woman approached me and gently said “ You take care, we’ll get you there.” After another service elsewhere in the constituency an army officer recently returned from a stint abroad told me proudly that he had already cast a postal ballot and voted Alex White number 1.
In Whitechurch estate, Sunday afternoon, February 19th a bunch of us were moving down the street. A man crossed the road, held out his hand and said “This is your time, this is your election. You have my number one vote.” It’s moments like those that keep the bounce in my step, and that also remind me of what a privilege it is to be out on the stump, seeking a mandate from the people of Dublin South.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KavA-2nA9cA]
I spent a leisurely hour on Friday morning at the Whitechurch Parish Cake sale and coffee morning jointly hosted by the Whitechurch Parish Mother & Toddler and Whitechurch Parish ‘Drop in’ Centre. Whitechurch parish church is located on a narrow, tree lined road, in a part of the constituency that retains its rural feel. This rural feel was evident in the warm welcome we received and general feeling of high energy about the place. For the record, I came away with a cheese loaf, six chocolate éclairs, an apple tart, a madeira cake and a bag of homemade doughnuts. A decent haul of goodies but not all for me….my son Fintan devoured the whole bag of doughnuts within minutes of my arrival home.
Later on Friday we met the kids from St. Patrick’s N.S, Ballyroan. I really enjoy doing the ‘meet and greet’ outside the schools. The children are full of enthusiasm for the election and they love to meet the candidates in the flesh. It’s a measure of the interest that parents and teachers impart that our young people are so civically engaged. I must admit it’s a bit hard to keep your feet on the ground when lovely young school girls come up to tell you that they “love you.” But being viewed as an object of affection certainly makes a change from acting as a ‘shock absorber’ on the doorsteps’ of irate constituents!
“The election that will take place two weeks from today will set the direction in Ireland for the next two decades. At this election, we must, all of us, ask the question: where do we want to take our country. It is a question for each of us, but one that we can only answer together. Le Cheile, as One Ireland.” Eamon Gilmore, Leader of the Labour Party
We launched our Manifesto at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin early this morning. The 89-page document is split into the three themes of our election campaign: Jobs, Reform and Fairness.
The party is committed to providing a detailed plan to get people back to work and to create a modern, outward looking economy. The manifesto sets out how we would fix what is a broken democratic and governmental system. It also commits the party to a basic threshold of decency - a bottom line below which nobodyshould fall.
If ever there was a time to adopt the 100+ proposals contained in the 2011 manifesto, now is the time. We cannot become an insular, conservative-thinking country. Labour believes that Ireland’s best days are yet to come.
To download and read the Manifesto, visit http://labr.ie/manifesto11
One of the talking points in my electoral campaigns over the years has been hair. Many people reach middle age and face a hair shortage. I, on the other hand, have volumes of it. It grows like wildfire and can be very recalcitrant. Keeping it in check is sometimes a full-time job. A couple of weeks ago, I was on television commenting on the implosion of Brian Cowen’s regime. Many of the comments I received afterwards made some covert or overt reference to my hair. My wife asked me why I had brought a toilet brush into studio with me. Others suggested that my hair formed a kind of halo around my head. Not wishing to be thought of as St. Alex it was straight down to the hairdressers for not so much a trim, as a major cutback!. The hair (yes, it is spoken of in the third person from time to time) is sitting back in place again temporarily but no doubt, I will have to get it seen to again before Election Day.
On Monday evening, Feb 7th, I was at the Iona Centre to meet with a Knocklyon networking group whose concern is unemployment in the locality. The group aims to do something practical about the problem as it affects themselves and their community. They are focusing in the first instance, on contacting existing agencies and organisations that may be able to help them get back into the workforce as employees or to start small businesses.
There was a palpable feeling of anxiety and frustration in the meeting room but this was tempered by a powerful sense of people coming together “to do something” because they refuse to give in to the idea that “It can’t be done.” These are the people- committed, hard working, creative and focused on the task in hand- who will make our country strong again.
They expressed concern about the fact that unemployment is affecting people across the life course: young people’s job prospects have diminished but people who have spend decades in the workforce now face the prospect of long-term unemployment. I spoke to them about the Labour party’s commitment to providing training and upskilling for people who have lost their jobs. The Labour Party has also outlined plans for creating jobs, stimulating overseas trade and promoting small business through a focus on the export market, innovation and start up incentives. They feel frustrated by a welfare system which requires them to attend several different offices in pursuit of their entitlements. They are 100% right when they say the welfare system needs to be rationalised and made much more accessible.
I left the meeting feeling much more optimistic about the future of our country. People like those in the Knocklyon networking group- doing what they can in the face of adversity- are the unsung heroes who have gotten us through difficulties in the past and will get us through the difficulties of the present. If elected to the Dail, it would be a privilege to work with the group to help them achieve their goals.
We had a fantastic turnout on Sunday, Feb 6th to our campaign launch and fundraiser. The Yellow House in Rathfarnham was the venue. Our top floor room gave supporters a bit of a workout on the stairs but also provided us with a bird’s eye view of the other candidates plying their wares at the Rathfarnham Church gates. Liz McManus T.D. very kindly did the honours. A few hardy souls departed for a bracing walk on the Three Rock mountain after high tea was served. Many thanks to each and every one of you for your support so far. Now, let’s make it happen.