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Author: Dara Bradley
~ 7 minutes read
A Conamara institution full of style, elegance, and sophistication. . . but that’s enough about Standún, the family-run fashion and gift store, and the starting point for Gráinne Seoige’s canvass of An Spidéal last Friday week. What about Fianna Fáil’s General Election candidate’s campaign?
Privately the Seoige camp concede they’re nervous. And the prospect of Gráinne retaining Éamon Ó Cuív’s seat in Galway West is not quite the slam dunk they hoped when she was selected alongside City Councillor John Connolly at an uncontested convention in September.
Despite – or perhaps because of – being relentlessly pushed on social and mainstream media by party strategists in Dublin, local handlers are yet to be convinced she is resonating with voters on the ground.
A household name, there’s no doubting the broadcaster’s celebrity. But on a stage-managed canvass of her native An Spidéal with the Fianna Fáil leader, it was Micheál Martin, not the Galway City resident, who sprinkled the stardust.
Many people they met were Fianna Fáil supporters, rounded up by the local Cumann. But Micheál was well received by randomers too. He stole the Seoige!
Everywhere they went, it was the Tánaiste people wanted to shake hands with and be photographed alongside.
A seasoned politician, he’s more adept at small talk and those awkward, brief encounters with strangers too.
GAA was a consistent icebreaker. Whether it was chats with a married couple on Spiddal Main Street about former Taoiseach Jack Lynch’s sporting prowess, or with 1980s Galway and Castlegar hurler Máirtín Ó Cillín in the Crúiscín Lán about the late Cork footballer Teddy McCarthy, Micheál was engaging, affable, interested.
Even critics of government policy, such as Restaurant Association of Ireland member Eimear Killian of An Builín Blasta, who had campaigned for lower VAT for hospitality, engaged politely.
Seoige may attract a personal vote, but the suspicion is her running mate Cllr Connolly is wooing more diehard Fianna Fáil supporters. The symbolism, then, of Gráinne and Micheál canvassing the Ó Coisdealbha brothers’ house, across from Standún, was important.
Former MEP, Seán Ó Neachtain, told the Tribune as Gaeilge, that Eamon and Hughie’s house – with a shed packed to the rafters with turf – had been owned by their grandfather and was burned by the Black and Tans.
Eamon confirmed he would vote for Gráinne. “Tabharfaidh mé péire di” (I’d give her two!”).
Hughie’s big ask of the prospective TD was for a ‘fine lump of a woman’. “Beidh mé ag coineáil súil amach (I’ll keep an eye out),” said Gráinne, before she was whisked away to Indreabhán.
At Siopa an Phobail, they met Tesco staff Brídín, Catherine, Margaret, Sharon, Nora, and Christopher.
“Micheál is my name; this is Gráinne,” he said to confused shoppers unloading trolleys at the till.
Then he got stung for the local lotto. “€20 for the book,” said shop assistant Peigín in a tone that suggested it wouldn’t suffice to buy one measly 50/50 draw ticket, with proceeds to Coiste na Mine.
Micheál had no cash – apparently he’d left his wallet in another trousers – but pledged to Peigín, “beidh mé arais”.
One male shopper tackled him on the 2012 changes to the State Pension system.
That was “Joan Burton’s pension cut”, Micheál said, blaming the former Labour Party leader and moving on as he realised the man wasn’t for turning. But Seoige persisted. Former County Councillor Seán Ó Tuairisg chimed in, as Gaeilge, telling the man “we have to get her in, or we’ll have no-one in Conamara”.
Back outside Tesco, Micheál quipped, ‘Where’s David Burke?’ – Fianna Fáil’s Finance Director – as he headed to his own car and returned with €20 for Peigín.
Gráinne – also without cash – was bailed out by ‘Burkey’, the Salthill/Knocknacarra GAA Club secretary, who surfaced with €20 to cover her tickets.
Back in An Spidéal, ‘Positive’ was the name of the essential oil being burned by the proprietor of Thyme Glas health store, who was impressed by Micheál.
“I’d like to shake your hand again – I think you have a lot of integrity,” she said, as Micheál and Gráinne headed for the door. The latter was called back.
“Gráinne. Support local, shop local. Support small businesses . . . this is the first time I’ve seen you in here.”
Gráinne protested she had been there before and responded, “And support your local TD!”
Next door in An Nead, an elderly man who was halfway through what certainly wasn’t his first pint of Guinness, wondered, “an bhfuil Micheál ag obair go crua, ar an Council?”.
“Níos airde ná sin (higher up than that!)”, Micheál replied.
A group in the corner offered Micheál a pint. He’d love one, “but I’m afraid I can’t”. One of them, a woman, couldn’t get away quickly enough.
“Don’t take a picture with me in it,” she yelped. “She’s supposed to have the flu,” said her friend, suggesting she had called in sick.
Across the road in her old secondary school, one staff member was asked if any old photos of Gráinne adorned the walls. No, but there might be one of her sister, Síle, he said.
“Bhí mé iontach ag an diospóireacht (I was great at debating) – head-girl vibes,” said Gráinne to Micheál in a classroom at Coláiste Chroí Mhuire.
“And that’s where you went when you were bold,” she said pointing at the principal’s office. “Ní raibh me riamh istigh ann (I wasn’t ever in there)”.
Rod Morris – son of Thelma Mansfield and the late Johnny Morris and a descendant of Lord Killanin — was enjoying a pint of porter at the counter of the Crúiscín when he shook Micheál’s hand.
“I was always a big fan of yours,” Rod said, as Seán Ó Neachtain explained that Killanin had been a ‘benevolent landlord’.
In the hotel bar lobby, Gráinne was ‘surprised’ by Leon Jordaan – her husband – just back from his native South Africa.
This was apparently the first time they’d met in two months, and they shared a moment, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes, in the full glare of cameras and supporters.
“Someone tell them that’s enough of the lovey-dovey stuff; we have to keep going,” said old romantic and former mayor of Galway, Val Hanley, to Proinsias Kitt.
Outside Texaco, as if by chance, they ‘bumped into’ Máirtín Seoige, Gráinne’s father, an ex-Garda. More GAA talk with Micheál.
“I never played against Val – that’s why I’m still alive,” Máirtín joked.
Inside, shop assistant Orla, a former schoolmate of Gráinne’s, quipped that “you’re nearly an hour late!”
Micheál powered on to An Ceardlann craft village, with Gráinne lagging.
“My little legs, they’re just not happy,” she said, before sticking her tongue out, in an ‘I can’t keep up’ sort of way.
“It’s the heels,” said Fianna Fáil press officer, Michelle Devane.
Noreen, manager of the Gteic digital hub, explained about one of its success stories, Goldcore, a gold trading company.
“The price of gold is high at the moment,” observed Gráinne, who owns a diamond jewellery business.
As she emerged from Cló Iar-Chonnacht publishers – the last stop before Maigh Cuilinn – perspiring after a pacy canvass, Gráinne wiped the sweat from her brow and exhaled deeply.
“We didn’t tell her about the unglamourous side of things,” joked David Burke. “It was all West Wing!”
Pictured: Fianna Fáil’s Galway West candidate Gráinne Seoige has a chat with brothers Hugh and Eamon Ó Coisdealbha at the start of her election walkabout with party leader Micheál Martin in An Spidéal.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune:
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