*Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF). Photograph: John Mangan
SINN FÉIN elected a Clare TD five years ago and they are “quietly confident” Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) can match the 8,987 first preferences received by the party’s candidate five years ago.
There was a swell of support of Sinn Féin which helped to elect Violet-Anne Wynne (IND) for the party in February 2020, she left the party two years later citing a campaign of “psychological warfare”.
In the same month that Wynne was elected to the Dáil, McGettigan was co-opted to Clare County Council, taking the seat of her good friend, the late Mike McKee (SF). She was the second candidate elected in the Shannon Municipal District in June’s local elections after polling 1,141 first preferences. “We were absolutely delighted to be elected second and to have a surplus, that was quite incredible the work we put in to get that there we were very happy with that. Everyone was saying to us in interviews afterwards that Sinn Féin had a bad day but we were thinking that we just doubled our representation on Clare County Council, we didn’t lose any, we lost members but not numbers, we didn’t have a bad day, I thought we had a good day”.
Compared with five years ago, the momentum of support is not yet behind Sinn Féin but Donna is confident her work ethic will win over voters before November 29th. “People see I am out on the ground getting things done which is a play on my name, McGettigan getting things done, I don’t stand off from anything, I’m out there and I’m in it, I’m working on the ground and people know I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, helping to clean up or whatever, my two pillars are family and community, they would be my strongpoints”.
From Shannon, she is familiar to voters in Ennis, having ran for the local elections in the Ennis Muncipal District where she polled 277 first preferences. “We didn’t have this in mind, we weren’t supposed to be running, Mike McKee or Noeleen Moran would have been our candidate whatever the case was at the time, it was about familiarising myself with the people of Ennis because it is a massive county, you can’t stay very parochial and stay within Shannon, you have to get out and about so that was a good exercise in meeting people who you don’t know and trying to buy into them”.
Several scandals have hit Sinn Féin in recent weeks which have not been ideal for Donna’s efforts to become a TD. “We’re not hearing it on the door, very little because what we’re hearing on the door is what is affecting people and not what is affecting outside their own home, what is affecting them within their own home and what can be done to help them with their own issues and what our policies can do for them, that is what we’re hearing on the doors. People have asked us about the issues but I don’t think it is directly affecting us, it’s been there, people have seen that we have dealt with them and we dealt with some of them straight away, it is out of our hands now and we can’t talk about it, we’re not getting it on the door”.
She added, “I feel that the party dealt with what they were doing in the correct manner, Niall Ó Donghaile’s case was dealt with straight away and handed over to the relevant authorities, we did all we could so I don’t believe that, I think people see me and know I’m not involved in any of that. What I’m doing on the doors isn’t directly affecting them so I don’t get frustrated because I think we dealt with it right”.
Historical issues of sexual offences within Sinn Féin are frequently cropping up, On why it appears to be linked to the party, McGettigan commented, “I think you will get that it every party whether it is a political party or another grouping, you will always get those kind of issues that will crop up and if you deal with them the right way and properly then you are dealing with it right and people will see that, I think that is going to come up with every party, it doesn’t frustrate me. I don’t believe in the kangaroo courts, that is just a saying that was thrown out. If these kind of things come forward we deal with them so you have to ask other parties how they do deal with them, is there any other stories that are going to come up in any other party or any other group”.
On her chances of claiming fifteen percent of the first preference vote as was achieved by Sinn Féin five years ago, the Shannon woman said, “We’re quietly confident, we’re in it to win it but it is a huge challenge, there is an awful lot of people on the ballot paper, as the only candidate for us it is a huge area to cover, we have to be here, there and everywhere but we’re up for it and we’re getting out there”.
McGettigan continued, “In the last two weeks people are saying on the doors about our policies so they are reading our stuff, looking into it and questioning us, they are ready for us which means they are looking into us, it feels like they say it is time for change and we believe it is time for change. They say they are sick to death of having to fight for every service. Even in the older generation because they are having to take in their kids and grandkids back to their homes when they are sitting down and ready to settle down but they are feeling it because they are directly affected by the lack of housing and when you have vulnerable children that don’t have services, people are saying to us they are sick to death of the same old same old, we just say to them give us a chance if you don’t agree with us vote us back out, vote for change but it is up to the people to do that, we can’t do but they can”.
With 71 candidates across the county, she said the party is the only viable alternative for the electorate, “it will for us have to be a Sinn Féin led Government”.
Use of Shannon Airport by the US military has been criticised by Sinn Féin and Donna is opposed to their presence in her native town. “We’re supposed to be a neutral country, we have said for long enough that there was no military arms coming through there but that has been discovered that there may have been so you can’t turn around and say there may have been or there may not have been, it is a civilian airport, if that has a direct hit, it is not built to withstand a direct hit, it is gone and the whole town is gone, all the jobs are gone, it should not be used in that manner, it really shouldn’t because we are a neutral country, we should stay neutral”.
“We believe even redirecting three percent down from Dublin to Shannon would be a major factor in that, that is something we actually believe in, regional balance would be that. You’d have less security at the airport because you wouldn’t be securing those flights and the military coming in, that is a lot of money which has been spent which people don’t take into account, we would have to have a regional balance with flights coming in and flights going out to Shannon”.
If Sinn Féin are put into Government, she is confident of having a strong input that can positively impact Co Clare. “if you’re going to vote back in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael then you’re going for more of the same. If you look back on after the war, we were a broke country, we had no money at all yet Fianna Fáil were our Government at the time and they built houses, to me it is stale because they are complacent now, the political will isn’t there anymore, you need to look at who has the political will to make changes”.
Donna McGettigan
Occupation – County councillor
DOB – 06/04/72
Party: Sinn Féin
Top priority: Reopening Ennis A&E.
