*Cathal Crowe TD (FF). Photograph: John Mangan
OUTGOING TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) is feeling the heat in his bid to be re-elected to the Dáil and said he won’t be drawn into “what ifs” on whether he will put his party whip on the line for the cause of Ennis Hospital.
Crowe helped to kick off one of the big issues of the 2020 election when calling out the planned RIC commemorations whereas five years on his campaign has yet to catch fire. He recalled that his stance on the RIC was “very genuine and heartfelt” and almost resulted in his resignation as Mayor of Clare.
He said, “There isn’t an RAC commemoration this time, but there’s, a million other pertinent issues in the county and I hope our people have seen in me is that, I’m not a I’m not a shy and retiring person, I’ve been outspoken and voicerfous on the issues of the county. I made one promise last election. I would follow the same format I’ve practiced for years in my Shannon electoral area that between the election, people would see me regularly, and I’m the only TD who’s done a full range of countywide clinics each year, averaging 300 a year since the last election”.
Former Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen (FF) has already issued the warning sounds on Crowe’s “tricky” re-election bid. “I am concerned, I have more opponents in front of me, when I walk out the front door of my house, there’s several candidates in the field that. When I turn my back and walk a mile in the other direction, I’m heading in towards the city so I have to work my way out of that South-East Clare corner, and there’s several candidates in front of me, all very credible candidates that I have to try to outperform and uphold and then, on top of that I’ve had people trying to tell the electorate that I’m safe as houses, which is very much the opposite to how my campaign team and I feel.
“Owing to an awful family tragedy, my campaign is probably about a week to ten days behind where we want is we have right now in terms of covering ground. But I’m glad to say I’ve great friends and the likes of the Killeens and many of the councillors in the county have doubled down their efforts so that we can try to make up that ground but I do feel it’s pressurised, I hope to be in there competing, but taking absolutely nothing for granted, nor did I five years ago. In some ways, I was surprised to get elected five years ago, I was hoping to perform well, but I didn’t fully believe I was going to get elected. This time, I think it’s, it is more pressurised than it was five years ago. Under the pressure, certainly in the past four months my office I think we’ve done exceptionally well and I’m proud of it”.
Services in Clare in health have not improved during his time in the Dáil but he said strides have been made with the county’s education sector. “There’s been, a lot of capital investment in our health care, and yet a huge amount more needs to be done. We’ve seen local link services throughout the county, transport, and I’m particularly proud, to have played, some role in terms of trying to reinvigorate Shannon Airport as it has, tried to emerge from the slumps of COVID”.
Fianna Fáil’s commitment to lift the passenger cap in Dublin Airport as part of its election manifesto was flagged by Leonora Carey (FG) who said it was “a betrayal” of Shannon. “I was surprised to see Leonora Carey issue a statement on it because, the position of her, party leader is to remove the cap and it has been for several months. On top of that, it was the position of her previous party leader Leo Varadkar as well. Leonora and I have the same challenge, I believe that the Dublin Airport, cap, should remain, and I believe that slot should be managed, however, Leonora and I should be using our voices as representatives and candidates in the region to try to convince those, from within our parties and other parties that there’s a role for Shannon in terms of alleviating that pressure”.
He is his party’s spokesperson on aviation but his views on the passenger cap appear to have been ignored. “In my five years, the work I’ve done in Shannon and aviation has probably been to the fore of everything I’ve done politically, so I pride myself with I’ve done for Shannon, when I go down there, whether it’s to fly out to the airport or whether it’s down there for a cup of coffee, I’m usually met by workers who praise me and say I’ve given Shannon the voice again. I think Fianna Fáil have done an awful lot for Shannon, Tony Killeen, Brendan Daly in the past, and there’s been some great voices for Shannon Airport, there’ve been days that, I think the the separation Dublin Airport hasn’t served, Shannon well, and that happened in a Fine Gael government”.
Clare’s TDs need to be ready for the “battle of all battles” to try get a model three hospital in the county following the publication of the HIQA review next year. “The worst decision for this region in my opinion was the 2009 decision taken to close, Ennis, Nenagh, and St. John’s accident emergency departments, there was a justification given at the time that it would lead to a centre of excellence, the regional hospital as it was then known in Limerick, had that materialized, I don’t think there would be a huge debate about it, but there was a hollowing out of funding, investment, recruitment over a decade”. He added, “I don’t think there’s any option, but that it should be in Clare, that is my view”.
On whether he would put the party whip on the line in this argument, Crowe stated he would do “whatever it takes”. He said, “Several people have mentored me over the years but when my corner of Clare was in the Limerick constituency Willie O’Dea would have been a major mentor of mine when I started out in politics in my twenties, he would have lost the party whip in the past over the hospital issue. I think the whip system is very important. I think that there’s an inner core belief to everyone who’s in politics as a bedrock political belief, and mine is that we need a better health care system. I don’t want to talk about losing the whip but I will do, I will just say at this point, because there’s a bit there’s a lot of what ifs. There’s reports yet to come out and everything, but I would do whatever it takes to make sure that, Clare is the beneficiary of whatever that is. And I’m not going to get into what ifs, but I do admire what Willie O’D has done in the past, and I will do whatever it takes, in in my personal fibre to make sure that it’s in Clare”.
During his first term as a TD, a planning controversy emerged and he was denied permission for a new home in July. “No comment. There’s a lot of, false versions of that out there and I have no comment to make on it,” he responded. “One’s efforts to build a family home has nothing to do with politics and I have done everything in accordance with, with all the rules here and I have no further comment to make”.
UL’s move to withdraw a designation for a strategic development zone in South-East Clare is “devastating and, I’m quite critical of the new Mayor of Limerick on this John Moran. He’s a good man, but I think I think he and my other councillors have read this wrong because, it was being spun for many months that to develop an SDZ would hollow out Limerick City, quite the opposite. This was something that was going to complement the university, not compete with the city centre. It would have done an awful lot to unburden the population, the housing pressures of Limerick. Castletroy, Lisnagry, Annacotty and I went to UL for years, most of the housing stock there is tied up with student accommodation, and that shouldn’t really be the case.
“If the SDZ has happened, most of the accommodation would have moved out to the Clare site, freeing up housing stock in Limerick, and it would have allowed a research and industrial zone to develop in South-East Clare. I think it’s woefully disappointing that this has happened. I would hope that it can be resurrected. I think, I would say I would think government should, be sticking the elbow into UL management on this because, we’re very much scrutinising performance of UL management at this time and, I think we would have every right as politicians going into the next Dáil to insist that this be part of package. I don’t think it can be vetoed by a mayor and some local authority members in Limerick. This is for the greater good of Clare and of Limerick and anyone who’s been in the UL campus will know that it is totally cramped. It cannot expand any further on the Limerick side. It will need, it will need the Clare side to grow, and I would hope this can be, revisited. I do also think that the corridor of our county that comes in by Meelick, from the Radisson in towards Coonagh, that has a tunnel infrastructure, there’s a nearby railway link and has plans to upgrade that. It has water, gas mains, airport, and the TUS Campus in Coonagh, I think, I think there should be a very high-level plan for that area as well on behalf of Clare County Council”.
Cathal Crowe
Occupation – Public representative, former primary school teacher
DOB – 01/10/82
Party – Fianna Fáil
Top priority – To push for a new model three hospital with accident and emergency care within this county
