Rose, Gerry and Mayo Sinn Féin feeling positive

"The response we're getting on the doorsteps is very encouraging"

Dr. Richard Martin

I met Rose Conway-Walsh, Gerry Murray and John Sheahan in the TF late on a Sunday evening.

We had tea and a chat. It was a most enjoyable evening.

I’m not a SF supporter nor voter. I have divergent political views, but I have always found the senior members of SF in Mayo to be fundamentally decent and honorable people.

I liked the fact that they were respectful of my differing views. Once the tea was poured and we were settled in our seats I kicked off.

Richard: The big day is coming on Friday. This time, two years ago, we were looking at a definite two Sinn Féin seats, possibly even a third. What's the feeling on the ground now?

Rose: Everywhere I go people we meet want a change of government. And we know that tweaking by FF and FG just won’t do it. There must be a change in government and a Sinn Féin led government. So, I am extremely positive and encouraged by what’s coming back on the doorsteps.

Richard: Gerry, you’re a long-time stalwart of Sinn Féin, a poll-topping, county councillor, going back over 25 years. How would you feel you’re going to do?

Gerry: Well, I find the feedback on the doors very positive. We came off a canvas there this afternoon in small town east Mayo where people in their 20s, young couples, are paying rents between €1,500 and €1,700 in east Mayo.

And one person showed me the receipt for their monthly rent, which was €1,650.

Richard: But there’s no such thing as a majority government anymore. Sinn Féin, if they do get into power, must go into coalition. So, who would be that ideal coalition partner?

Rose: Well, our focus is absolutely on a Sinn Féin led government. And we have made it clear all of the time that we will speak to anybody.

I think it would be arrogant to say anything different. We are asking for the biggest mandate possible for the people in Mayo, myself and Gerry, and throughout the country. And we will speak to anyone.

Richard: Do you regret not opening an office in Castlebar?

Rose: I could only open two offices in the county. We’ll have two and a half offices all together. I’m afraid the resources wouldn’t stretch any further than to open two offices.

But every day, and every hour of every day, I serve the people of Castlebar. People contact TDs differently now in that most of the contacts are through email or on the phone. But, also, my mother has lived here for 40 years.

I’m up and down in Castlebar all the time. At least three times a week that I stay in Castlebar. I think I’m very connected to the people in Castlebar as my family have been connected. And I’m very connected workwise to Castlebar and to the issues in Castlebar. And I think people see that.

Alan Dillon has one office. I have two offices to serve the county. And Gerry Murray has his clinics on the other side. Ultimately, the people in Castlebar will decide.

Richard: Have you canvassed Castlebar? What kind of feedback are you getting?

Rose: Yes, yes, I have. There’s a huge appetite for change. People want to change the government.

Richard: And do you think you’ll retain most of that vote?

Rose: I would hope that I would. I respectfully ask the people of Castlebar to vote number one for myself and number two for Gerry so that we can change the government.

But I’m telling you that the response that’s coming back on the doors for us in Castlebar is the same as it is in Ballina and other parts of the county.

Richard: Both you and Gerry said you want to change the government. But when you say change, what is it exactly you want to do? I know you say, well, there’s rent and there’s housing. How are you going to change that then?

Gerry: Yeah, but basically, we’re talking first and foremost about a Sinn Féin-led government. Minus FF and FG.

Richard: But that’s not really realistic, is it?

Gerry: Well, look it, we have enough candidates to achieve that. During the last election campaign, we embarked with just 23 seats and increased it by 14 to 37.

Rose: At this point before the November 29 election, we’re probably about the same as Fianna Fáil. Nobody would question Fianna Fáil and why are they running two candidates in the county and hoping to get two seats. We are certainly hoping to get two seats here.

Richard: I would feel, and you probably dispute this, the SF first preference vote in Mayo currently is 10,000. You might disagree with me on that, but do you think that’s higher or lower? That’s my estimate of it. Would you feel that’s too low?

Rose: I would hope that there would be much more than that within the county and from the feedback we’re getting, it will be higher. I suppose all the work that’s been done in the last five years, you know, with having two offices in Mayo and two people working in those offices and Gerry working as a councillor, and you saw the vote that John got as well in the Swinford area.

It was a huge vote and it was a huge endorsement of Sinn Féin and of John himself."

Richard: There is a correlation between the fall in support for Sinn Féin in the opinion polls and the rise in support for independents and, let’s say, far right or fringe elements, so have you deviated on the immigration issue? I would see you as someone strong, strongly pro-immigration, pro-equality and that’s it, you’re not going to change?

Rose: I absolutely am and we would always advocate equality. But you must think the government has absolutely failed in terms of handling immigration and particularly handling international protection.

If you look at what they have done, they have given out millions and billions to private developers. This whole thing has been led by private developers, not government policy.

You have to take a grip of it, and the way they should take a grip of it is the way we have put this forward in our own policy. That is about having a fair, enforced and efficient system, and you’ll say what does that look like?

That looks like you have a transparent system that people who are legally entitled to be in the country are facilitated to be self-sufficient as quickly as possible, and those who are not entitled to be in the country are sent back to their own countries safely, and it’s as simple as that.

But also in terms of the communication with communities, there has to be respect for communities, and there has to be communication with those communities, but certainly not developer led and privately led.

Mary Lou McDonald has made this clear in terms of affluent communities not having and not taking their fair share of international protection applicants.

Now you might say what is an affluent community or how do we know, but when we look at the county of Mayo we know from the HASS index that there are areas of very high deprivation across this county, there aren’t the services there, there aren’t the GP services, there aren’t the dental services and all those things, so there’s a way of doing this and I think that’s the key message, there’s a right way.

Richard: Yes, but do you not think that she was kind of pandering to the working class vote there a bit?

Rose: No, I think that’s a simplistic representation of our policy.

We have a very robust policy, a fair policy, I think a policy that will endure and that will be underpinned by human rights but would also serve communities and serve this country well.

It is not our responsibility for the way immigration has been handled in this country.

Richard: I think that's fair. I think I heard you say this before: that Sinn Féin aren’t in government but you’re being attacked for it.

Rose: Then you must look at why that’s the case.

Why is it that the forces are more intent on attacking somebody who’s not in government than laying the responsibility very firmly at the door of those who have been in charge?

Richard: Where did your passion for Irish Republicanism come from? Did that come from you personally?

Rose: It never made sense to me why an island the size of Ireland was divided and why part of it was owned by another country.

It just didn’t make sense to me, and that was always the case in my life.

It still doesn’t make sense to me, that a part of our island would be owned by somebody else.

Richard: What's your take on the homelessness crisis?

Rose: All of the people I am dealing with - single parents, people who have been evicted from their homes to no fault of their own - don’t have a home because no homes were built in this country and because the homes that were built were commodified and bought by real estate investors to leave people at home.

Many communities have been neglected and not invested in, and youngsters haven’t been invested in.

When austerity was here, the first thing that was hit were all the community development projects and all the projects that were working.

The reason that we have so much homelessness is because they stopped building houses.

They contracted out under HAP and RAS and one billion euro a year is transferred to private developers. If you look at the supply of social housing here, it is about nine per cent, yes?

Richard: What is normal in a normal country?

Rose: It’s about 25-26 per cent; it’s in the 20s.

We have huge gaps here because the government has absolutely failed and not only this government, but successive governments have also failed on housing.

You remember Michael Noonan saying: we need the vulture funds, we need them in, we need the vulture funds.

People who have invested from abroad in homes that should be supplied for people here that aren’t here.

We didn’t build one affordable home in Mayo in 2023, not one. They’re the questions that need to be asked.

The full conversation lasted about two hours. We covered a lot of ground.

The Good Friday Agreement. The Treaty. Irish Unity. The Troubles. And on it went. Nights like that are the reason I love writing for the CT.

Meeting intelligent people and discussing current and historical events.

I don’t vote for SF, but I’d trust RCW with my life. That’s the paradoxical nature of Irish politics.

Lots of people around Castlebar and the county feel the same way but will vote RCW.

People see a mother, a wife and a pilgrim soul. She’s relatable and has never forgotten where she came from.

The road home will be a bit bumpier than 2020. A few potholes. A few more counts. But she should place third or fourth.

This coming election is a battle for Ireland’s soul.

And this woman has soul.

Leaving the TF that wet Sunday night and walking down Mountain View I thought of Bob Dylan.

Dylan once saw Kurt Cobain in concert and was asked what he thought after the show.

He replied: “That kid has heart”.

Having met RCW, I’d say the same thing about her.