*Antoinette Bashua Baker.
A FOURTH FIANNA FÁIL candidate has been added to the party’s local election ticket in the Ennis Municipal District.
Hermitage woman, Antoinette Bashua Baker was on Tuesday informed by party headquarters that she had been selected as a candidate for the local elections which take place in June.
In October, she had contested the selection convention for the Ennis MD where party members voted for Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), Cllr Pat Daly (FF) and Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) who received 40, 35 and 26 votes respectively. Antoinette obtained five votes with Amanda Major getting three.
Living in Cloughleigh with her husband Museliu a local soccer referee and their two sons, Antoinette will be hoping to pick up the support in their area which helped to elect Mark Nestor (FF) as a first-time candidate in 2019.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Antoinette admitted that she was surprised to get the call announcing her addition to the ballot paper. “It was a bit of a shock because I went through convention and didn’t get through”.
Senior officials in Fianna Fáil contacted Antoinette in the past fortnight to ascertain if she would consider expressing an interest within the party on adding her to the ballot paper. “I had a Zoom meeting last Thursday, since then there has been a load of news in the county with other people being picked and I said maybe it wasn’t my time then and I had accepted that I’d have to wait another five years before I could go again but then I got the call to be told I was going to be the fourth Fianna Fáil candidate in the Ennis Municipal District. It was a shock and I’m delighted to get th call but I’m a bit nervous as it’s all starting now, you’ve to be careful what you wish for I guess. I’ve got my around it, my family and friends have helped to calm me down”.
This latest addition is the third female to join the party’s local election offering in recent days, Chair of the Clare CDC Mike Enright told The Clare Echo. “The officer board in Clare are delighted that Antoinette is added to the ticket, she has big steps to fill after the departure of Mark Nestor in Cloughleigh. In the last forty eight hours, Rita headed the poll in the Kilrush local electoral area, Rachel Hartigan has been added in the Shannon MD as a candidate. Our representation of women on the tickets in all the electoral areas is getting stronger and we already have a seating female councillor in Clare Colleran Molloy”.
Nestor’s 2019 performance where he polled 1,211 first preferences was one of the stories of the election. It has highlighted by Antoinette the impact he made on the Cloughleigh area during his time on the local authority. “Fianna Fáil as a party is very strong nationally and locally with three sitting local councillors but equally West of Ennis needs a strong person to represent them, we’ve all had really strong councillors going back the years who represented Ennis and we’ve three strong ones now, Mark gave our neighbourhood and locality a boost, it showed us we weren’t without a voice and that we did count. Other councillors did it but with Mark, it was one of our own fighting for us and he was listening to us, I don’t know can anyone do what he has done, he was amazing, he was well known in community games and within the Irish language, he was a strong person”.
Maintaining a strong voice for the area is a goal for the special needs assistant. “I have a voice too and I don’t want our neighbourhood or Ennis West not to be heard so I put myself forward”. Nestor on a recent return from Spain offered her advice, “he was really generous with his time and made me realise I am an independent person and I have my own views”
Her grandfather John has been referenced as a key influence in her political career, he kept a photograph of Charles Haughey on their Christmas tree. “The Baker family were stepped in the Fianna Fáil party so there wasn’t another party I could join, my grandfather John Baker at the pearly gates if I went with anyone else he wouldn’t let me in so I couldn’t have gone with anyone else”.
Outlining her belief of what a local representative should do, Antoinette explained, “I’ve been working in a special needs school since 2002 so I’ve seen people fighting all the time for services. As a member of the Nigerian community with my husband, we’ve been married over 21 years and we have built up a community base with them. To be helpful is what a local representative has to do, to show people who can’t find the right path or to the services available or to fight for them. I’m excited to dip my toe in and meet the people as I go along”.
A cancer survivor, she said this experience can help her in politics. “I am going to listen first of all, nobody wants to hear from me all the time, I want to listen as to how I can help them. The services are there, they have come down the line, there are certain things available for people but lots of people don’t know how it is available, they might ask for something but ask the wrong question, I want to be their voice. There’s lots of people who are sick, like I was when I was most vulnerable with breast cancer over ten years ago I had no voice because I was too sick to speak, I was so lucky enough to have strong people around me to speak for me, I want to be the voice for people and to speak for them, if I can’t help them I’ll do my best to help them and get support further up the line. The good thing about me is that I am a blank canvass, I’ve to be honest with people I won’t know it all, there’s people working in the Council for decades that know the ins and outs but I’d love to help people”.
Prior to the selection convention, the reception from Fianna Fáil members was warm, Antoinette is aware some doors on the canvass won’t be as receptive. “I went out and got a very welcoming reaction, it was very daunting the first time to be able to canvass because you are putting yourself forward, these people had the same views and beliefs as myself. I’m under no illiusion that it will be a different story, the welcome might not be a cead míle fáilte but I’ll put myself forward to show I can help and that am I fighting for everyone and not just the Ennis area”.
“I am a fresh face going forward, I hope the people will give me a chance and see the person as well as the party, right now people are angry rightly or wrongly, they have their opinion and I want them to give me a chance to say let me help you and don’t judge us over what has happened before,” she told The Clare Echo.
