Ger Deere is driven by a passion for Mayo's county town

By Aoibhinn McDonagh

GER Deere's passion for Castlebar is what drives him in local politics.

He's a hands-on community man, a familiar figure with organisations like Tidy Towns. And facing into an election year, come what may, he'll still be at the coalface of the community he cares deeply about.

Ger first got involved in the local Fine Gael branch after meeting Enda Kenny at a Foroige conference when he was Minister for Youth and Sport. He ended up spending 13 years working in the former Taoiseach’s constituency office.

Heading into the council elections in June, Deere says housing is one of the biggest issues at national and local level. He is very conscious of the many people who are falling between the cracks in getting social housing.

“There’s a lot of young couples who are just over the threshold limit for social housing and they are under for other schemes, so they are caught in the middle,” he says. “To get on the property ladder is impossible for them because the price of housing has skyrocketed.”

He added: “In the coming years we’re going to really need to focus on affordable housing. It’s great that there is a lot of schemes announced for social housing in Castlebar in the next few years, but there has not been enough done for affordable housing. I’ve called on the council and government to at least have half of them affordable housing to give people a chance on the housing ladder.”

Issues at Mayo University Hospital are also to the fore, and although they are working hard on improvements, it is always a slow process. However, there is promising news with planning submitted for a new emergency department.

There is more potential at Lough Lannagh to be explored. With waters ideal for water sports, he ponders that a type of aqua park would be a great amenity, though insurance costs would make this difficult.

The walks there are ‘fantastic’ but need to be expanded further, out to Islandeady.

Castlebar's historic quarter is, he says, something of an embarrassment, how the old post office was purchased almost 10 years ago with the plan of turning it into a youth centre and it still hasn’t happened. Another building that has been a part of many a conversation in the town is the Imperial Hotel.

He commented: “When I was on the town council, I proposed Mayo County Council and the town council at the time would purchase that so we could turn it into something given its historic significance, and nine or 10 years down the road nothing has happened.”

Many ideas have been thrown around as to what to do with it - a museum, a municipal building - and what he sees as being most popular with the people of Castlebar is keeping it as a hotel.

“We need a hotel in the centre of Castlebar and where better location could you get.”

Deere mentioned how a lot of his focus went towards achieving outdoor dining areas around Castlebar as a result of Covid. Market Square was a 'prime location', as was the Mall, and the initiative gave them new life.

“When I look back, if I don’t get elected or if I do get elected, I’d like to say look I championed these types of things and that they’re for the better of Castlebar,” he said.

Deere says that the main reason he got involved in politics is because he is passionate about Castlebar. “If I wasn’t a politician anymore, I’d still be involved in Tidy Towns and different organisations.”

Along with Tidy Towns, he does a lot of work with Castlebar Social Services, whose building now offers meeting rooms, a day centre, and over 150 meals going out every day to people.

“There’s younger people with the youth centre, older people with the meals on wheels building and social services, so we’re trying to accommodate and work with the different ranges in Castlebar.”

Another thing Deere is also very passionate about is the Michael Davitt Museum, where great work has been done despite a lack of funding, something which is 'a shame' on the council and government.

MEETING PEOPLE

Deere definitely believes that social media is important for getting his message across to people, despite not being favourable to it originally. “I’m a bit old fashioned in that regard. I wasn’t into social media at all up until the last local election, but my friends told me, 'Ger, you have to get on social media'.”

However, he still believes the best way to promote yourself is to knock on the door and talk to people.

He uses social media to promote things around the town or to highlight issues but tries not to engage in commentary with ‘keyboard warriors’.

“Anyone I know that gets into politics do it for the right reason but a lot of the stuff that’s put up on social media would just put you down. The best policy is to use it to your advantage and promotion of organisations and yourself but not to start engaging in the negative stuff.”

Deere says it is still important to go out and 'ask for the vote'. If you don’t people fully have the right to call you out and say 'Sure you never asked me for the vote'.

He uses social media to his advantage so that even if he can’t get to someone’s door, they can still see what he has done for their area. But he prefers to go to events, meet with people and find out what they’re thinking.

“It is certainly important no matter what we think, it is very important.”

What Deere likes about canvassing is getting to listen to and talk to people, even when what they have to say is bad. “You have to take the good with the bad.”

He added: “I particularly like meeting older people on the canvass because they have some great stories to tell.”

I enquired if he's ever had any similar experiences to the time Michael Ring was bitten by a dog while out canvassing.

He was once met at the door by a man with a hurley. “He had issues with the government at the time and I happened to be the one who called. He didn’t even look to see who it was.”

Despite this Deere was very understanding, “He was angry and look you have to allow for that.

“I’ve got a lot of abuse at times but that’s part and parcel of it.”

If Ger is passionate about community and politics, he's equally passionate about his day job working as an SNA.

Caring is in his DNA. Growing up, his sister had Down Syndrome and his mother fostered children.

When he changed careers, it was at a time when he had a bereavement of someone close to him and had been helping the family. “Someone mentioned to me would you think about becoming an SNA. I had never thought of it.”

He did the course at night and now works as an SNA in Snugboro National School, something he loves. And although it can be challenging, it is certainly rewarding: “You can see the difference you're making. It has changed my life.”

He added: “There’s some great educational facilities around this county for all age levels and to think we have a university now in Castlebar is a great opportunity for any age group to learn. No matter what age you are or what level you’re at, education is important.”

On his other passion - Tidy Towns - Ger is frustrated about littering. It's not just its impact on the local scenery, but also on jobs.

“I keep going back to the point I’ve often made - by people littering the countryside it's having an affect not just environmentally on the landscape and biodiversity, but also on tourism and jobs.

“A good few years ago I remember a company was looking at investing in Castlebar and one of the things they were looking at was the cleanliness of the town. It was one of the issues that influenced them to come.

“To think industries around the world are looking at places in Ireland and one of the criteria is how clean is it.”

As Castlebar Tidy Towns marks 30 years in existence this year, he notes how it improved, and how the whole ethos of tidy towns has changed. It's not just about picking up litter now, there’s heritage, built environment, biodiversity, climate change.

He's grateful for the support they have received from the international protection refugees and Ukrainians who have come to Castlebar.

Dashboard dumping is a big issue, with huge amounts of coffee cups, water bottles and energy drink bottles thrown out of cars.

“People can blame governments and the local council but it’s a change in the mentality of people. It's about awareness, pride, we just have to keep at it and try and get the mentality right.

“It's in all our interest, we’ve only one planet and if we have any sense of pride in our town we have to.”

He commended the work going on around the town, saying: “There’s some great initiatives coming and I was delighted to see SuperValu having their return deposit for bottles and cans.

“People need to have pride in their area.

“We have to keep at it, it's going to be a huge battle but we’ve made great strides.”