*Mark Nestor was the youngest Clare councillor until his resignation this week. Photograph: Eamon Ward
The changing of the guard is vital in all political parties in order to keep them relevant.
By Eoin Neylon
Like any good GAA team, getting a steady flow of fresh blood into the team is vital to keep things fresh, rejuvenated and to bring new life and ideas into the fold. In the 1970s, Seamus Brennan of Fianna Fáil saw the success in the USA that political party youth wings brought the parties there in identifying new potential talent and bringing them through to the senior ranks, and eventually to the ballot paper.
Ógra Fianna Fáil was thus founded in 1974, soon followed by Young Fine Gael, Labour Youth and eventually almost every major political party in Ireland had its own youth wing. Down through the years, there has been mixed results in this avenue of candidate training for future elections, especially in Co. Clare.
Of our current TDs both Joe Carey and Cathal Crowe cut their teeth with some local youth politics before entering the electoral fray. Carey was celebrated as one of 36 YFG members to win election to a local authority in the 2004 local elections, the same day Cathal Crowe became the youngest county councillor in Ireland. A 50% haul of seats sounds an impressive return on the face of things for those who graduated from youth politics origins.
Of Clare’s three Senators, Timmy Dooley also found a start within the Ógra ranks during his time in college in Dublin.
However, when one looks at Clare County Council, those impressive figures fall away dramatically. In fact, there are more Councillors that first contested election prior to the foundation of most political party youth wings, than there are graduates of youth politics currently sitting as elected members of Clare County Council. Sadly, that number has dropped now that Mark Nestor has resigned his seat.
The most common complaint I hear regarding the position of a councillor is that the demands of the job are not balanced with the effectiveness of the position. The remuneration for the time that goes into the job is also far below minimum wage, and the heightened toxicity, especially online, means that retention of good people in politics is proving harder and harder.
This loss will come as a blow to Fianna Fáil in Clare as it loses its youngest elected rep in the county. The party’s youth wing, Ógra, had recently been celebrating a successful AGM which saw healthy numbers and the election of its first woman chair, in Aoíbhann de Búrca Quinlivan, since Marina Keane held the role back in 2006. That was a time when the local party brought Fianna Fáil’s National Youth Conference to Clare too, with many young candidates hoping to use that platform to build into 2009 local elections. It ultimately proved a false dawn with only Cathal Crowe from the Clare Ógra ranks proving successful at the polls in 2009.
Despite the hardships of being a county councillor in today’s world, there is still no shortage of interest in the co-option to replace Nestor. Although unconfirmed whether or not they will allow their names go forward at this time, there are those in the party locally who have floated names such as Bernard Hanrahan, Darragh McAllister, and Tom O’Callaghan so far. Garrett Green has confirmed he will not be letting his name go forward.
McAllister contested for a seat on Ennis Town Council back in 2004 for Fianna Fáil at a young age. The popular publican completed his term as President of Ennis Chamber of Commerce earlier this year. Tom O’Callaghan is the current chair of the Ennis FF Comhairle Ceantair and is national head of the Independent Postmaster’s Union which has campaigned heavily for the retention and expansion of post office services across Ireland. Bernard “Bomber” Hanrahan is the only former Councillor currently mentioned as a contender. The Barntick native served on Clare Co. Co. from 1999 through to 2009. He was also unsuccessful in the 2014 election in a bid to regain said seat. At the time of writing, none of the above have confirmed whether or not they will allow their name to go forward but all do have support from the voting members of FF and each represents a different direction the party could take locally.
I feel confident in saying one thing, there will be twists in this tale yet with more names to emerge from the woodwork and undoubtedly at least one of the four names listed above turning down an approach to run. With just roughly 18 months between the co-option and the next election, whoever does take up the mantle will have a lot of work to do to ultimately retain the seat for FF in 2024.
