Guest Post - Paul Dillane : "Time to Go Looney and Labour"

Paul Dillane is Campaign Manager of the Looney for Tallaght Central campaign.

Time to Go Looney and Labour

The local election campaign of 2009 is now drawing to a close.

By far the most response on the doors has been “so long as you are not Fianna Fail.” It has been a dramatic fall from grace for a party that swept the board at the general election.

When the short, intensive run in to the local elections began, the Dermot Looney campaign turned itself from its focus of political activism on local issues to attempting to gather votes from involvement in these issues. Again and again, we argued with people on the doors that the time was right to elect a campaigner to the council who would continue in the best traditions of Labour in the area.

One of the most encouraging aspects of the campaign has been the opportunity to politically engage with people across the ward of Tallaght Central. There is huge anger at the government and a good deal of disillusionment abroad. Convincing people that a political alternative is available has been a real task.

Many voters who opted for FF in previous elections are willing now to stitch allegiance. But those voters are often very weary of a potential Fine Gael government. We have insisted that we are campaigning for a Labour led government that represents a real break from the past, a real possibility in the now much altered political landscape.

There has been plenty of craic on the campaign trail. Meeting the occasional political loyalist from opposition campaigns has lightened the load considerably. The political grilling is part of the course for canvassers, or knockers as we are known in the states - or bashers, as we are called in some traditional elements of Irish political activism. Almost every voter, however, has been courteous and welcoming and willing to engage.

If you are a voter in the Tallaght Central ward, and you haven’t made up your mind, but are thinking of going Looney, I have a lot to say to you. However, I am warned that the blogospherere won’t hold pages of argument so I have condensed my case into 2 points.

Dermot Looney is:

The Labour candidate.

- Voting Labour is the way to put up a signpost to a new society in Ireland that is genuinely Republican and Democratic.

- Don’t go toward Fine Gael. Look at their policies; they represent more of the same.

None of the smaller parties can lead an alternative government.

Dermot Looney is not:

A member a party whose councillors have nearly ruined Dublin with disastrous planning (we are looking at you FF and FG), or active in a party who continue the dishonourable relationship between wealthy interests and politics that caused the scandalous planning issues in Dublin (we are still looking at you FF and FG).

Please support Dermot Looney tomorrow and thanks for reading the Looney Left during this campaign.

Guest Post - Paul Dillane

As part of a new series of occasional guest posts, I am asking members of our campaign to let the readers of this blog know about their motivation for involvement, the work they do and the hopes they have for our campaign for community and change.

This week's guest blog post is from Paul Dillane (pictured with me on last year's demo against education cuts, right). Paul and I both studied Social Science in UCD, where he encouraged me to get active in politics and to join the Labour Party. In 2003 he recruited me as his campaign manager for his successful bid to become President of UCD Students' Union, and we have shared many platforms and campaigns ever since. Paul plays a key role in our campaign here in Tallaght Central, and as an activist across issues and at many levels - including on the National Executive of the Labour Party - he is unfailing in pushing for a socialist alternative in Irish politics.

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"Dermot Looney campaign points to a different and better way for local politics."

When an election candidate's close friends and political colleagues start paying tributes to him/her, things generally start getting fairly embarrassing. We are generally asked to believe in a candidate’s tremendous ability to "get things done", their unstinting track record of "hard work" and their localness to a particular area. It is as if a good political candidate has the qualities of a saint (they can intervene on your behalf with unknown powers), a horse (can work and work and work...) and a priest (is at the heart of the parish).

In reality, some of the powers claimed by local politicians are powers that do not long belong to them at all. For example, the planning process has been taken out of the hands of local councillors. The claims of politicians to be able to deliver planning permissions and stop your neighbours from building extensions are just that-claims.

That is not to say that politicians cannot work with local communities to develop good planning or put pressure on developers who are neglectful, but to state that politicians are simply not gifted to make the final decisions when it come to planning matters.

The functions of budgeting have also been broadly removed from councillors. For example, the controversial and unfair bin taxes lie not in the hands of people we elect, but with the county and city managers and the Department of the Environment. This is not to suggest that it is okay and right for councillors to vote for privatisation of services under protests of "they would have done it anyway" or "we had no choice", but to point out that the capacity of politicians to intervene in some of the most important local issues is extremely limited.

It is the not the work of a conspiracy theorist to suggest that real power often does not lie directly with people we elect. What then is the role of a local councillor, particularly one concerned with bringing about real political change?

It seems to me that a local councillor who uses his/her position to campaign, mobilise and organise people in pursuit of political goals is the best response in a system that is undemocratic and where decision making does not lie directly with those we elect. The alternative to such an approach is politicians claiming credit for things that have nothing to do with them or justifying decisions that they had no power in shaping.

It is one thing to claim be a local campaigner and organiser of people as an alternative to the clientelist model of politics, and another thing to pursue and deliver on this goal. However, the Dermot Looney campaign is seriously showing how politics can be done in a different way. The campaign to redevelop the McHugh’s site in Greenhills- a site left derelict after the developer in question knocked down the once key amenity and then did something of a runner- is one such example of this alternative approach, where Dermot mobilised local opinion through petitioning to put pressure on the council. And there are others - such as Dermot’s involvement in anti-education cuts initiatives, which have attempted to mobilise people against the cuts culture of the government.

So, if you are willing able, please consider voting Dermot Looney in the local elections. Better still, consider getting involved in a campaign that is genuinely different and where you will be sure that your involvement will make a difference.

Guest Post - Jane Horgan-Jones

As part of a new series of occasional guest posts, I am asking members of our campaign to let the readers of this blog know about their motivation for involvement, the work they do and the hopes they have for our campaign for community and change.

This week's guest blog post is from Jane Horgan-Jones, Labour Youth's National Education Officer and a comrade of mine for many years from our time in UCD Students' Union (for which she poses, right!) and the Labour Party to the present day.

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My name is Jane Horgan-Jones and I am a Labour Youth activist from Clontarf, in Dublin. I also serve on the National Youth Executive as Education and Policy Development Officer. I am involved in Dermot Looney’s election campaign in Greenhills because I believe that Dermot is the only candidate with the vision, values and political experience to make a real change to the local council if elected next June.

I have known Dermot Looney since 2004 when we were both undergraduate students in UCD. Dermot was chair of the UCD Labour branch at the time and recruited me into the party. During his time as chair, I knew him to be a committed, articulate and passionate activist, overseeing an exponential increase in the level of campaigning activity in the branch which resulted in a corresponding increase in membership numbers and established the UCD Branch as one of the biggest and most active party branches in the country.

Nationally, his contribution to Labour Youth was also hugely significant, particularly during his term as Communications Officer, when he oversaw the production of the national youth publication, the “Left Tribune”.

Dermot’s selection to contest the Tallaght Central ward in the June elections for the Labour Party came as no surprise and I feel that the success of candidates like Dermot in those elections is the only way Labour will succeed in breaking the mold of civil war politics in Ireland and becoming a real third option for the electorate, offering as he does a clear vision of socialist and social democratic values for a society that has been long maligned and stymied by the influences of the neo liberal agenda and big business in the form of the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties.

Both nationally and locally, Dermot is a candidate whose work ethic and commitment to getting the job done has yielded substantial results for the cause of social justice. His leading involvement in anti-racism campaigns and campaigns for worker’s rights such as the Joanne Delaney campaign, coupled with his work on the ground for local people on day to day issues such as class sizes and housing issues has clearly established him as an activist of the highest calibre and someone in whom the local communitywill find an excellent public representative.

The country has found itself at a crossroads both economically and socially, and it is essential that candidates like Dermot, who have a clear vision for national affairs as well as ability to resolve local issues that present themselves, are returned next June.

As one of the youngest candidates contesting the local elections in June, it is not surprising that Dermot’s campaign has drawn considerable support from young people in the area, who have come out to canvass and leaflet consistently over the past few months. Being involved in this campaign is an opportunity to effect change in this country first-hand and engage with other like-minded young activists involved in a grassroots campaign for change and social justice. We are always looking for new people to get involved – just drop the campaign an email or text if you’d like to help out!

Guest Post - Colm Lawless

As part of a new series of occasional guest posts, I am asking members of our campaign to let the readers of this blog know about their motivation for involvement, the work they do and the hopes they have for our campaign for community and change. This week's first guest blog post is from Colm Lawless, Labour Youth's National Secretary who lives in Templeogue.

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My name is Colm Lawless and I am a Fifth Year secondary school student. I got involved in Dermot’s campaign through local work as a Labour Party member. I first met Dermot at the Labour Party Conference in Wexford in 2007, having previously known him as the Communications Officer of Labour Youth and a strong voice against coalescing with Fine Gael. From there, Dermot announced that he had intentions to run for South Dublin County Council. Having a local young councillor with strong socialist convictions is something that the majority of council wards and boroughs in Ireland do not have, and we are very lucky in Dublin South-West to have just that representation. In an age dominated by corporatism, exploitation and greed it is vital that we have candidates like Dermot who are ready to push the cause for a decent society, based on merit and not means.

Since becoming involved in the campaign I have participated in various promoting activities. I am actively involved in leafleting at weekends, distributing leaflets about important local issues and campaigns and highlighting the importance of the community as a means to solve local issues. The issue of the McHugh’s site in Greenhills remains a prominent campaign issue, as people are marginalised without a place to buy their messages or to go to the chemist. We have had huge success as a campaign, which has the youngest team on average in Ireland. We have fought against incompetency and conservatism, and we have fought to ensure that the ordinary people of Greenhills receive a Councillor that is ready to meet the challenges of an ever changing society. I have greatly enjoyed my time so far as a volunteer for Dermot, as I feel that the work we have done has served the community well, and the hope is always that any effort made is an effort made on behalf of the community.

Looking into the future, I believe that we can win a seat in Greenhills and change the way South Dublin County Council looks at ordinary residents. It’s time for political representatives to step up to the mark and serve the people that they were elected to serve. I firmly believe that we have that candidate in Dermot Looney, who as a Greenhills resident all his life, has stood up for the rights of ordinary people and has stood up for the cause of socialism. Dermot has always been a diligent campaigner, a diligent worker and will be a diligent Councillor. Our campaign is focused on the principles of equal opportunity and the right to a safe neighbourhood with decent infrastructure. Dermot has been a great source of inspiration to me as a young person, showing how young people can be heard in politics. I have never met a candidate who shares such similar views to my own and who I know will serve South Dublin County Council with the same energy, flair and enthusiasm that I know Dermot for expressing. It has been a pleasure working with the campaign so far, and I look forward to the contest ahead.