This article is from page 14 of the 2011-02-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
MASS is just finished and the paper stall outside the front door is doing a roaring trade. Whether you bought the Sunda y Press or Sunda y Independen t depended on your politics; what lorry you applauded also depended on your politics. The Blueshirts lorry; the one belonging to the Soldiers of Destiny.
Jo Walsh was drawn by both. The political junkie in her was born and from there the seed was sown, albeit that she eschewed both Blueshirts and Soldiers in favour of Labour, involving herself in election campaigns in Clare for over 20 years.
There have been Labour highs, Labour lows. In between it’s never been dull and always interesting, whether pounding the streets, or teaming up with fellow junkies from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in election tallies.
And to think that it started over tea – not a cup of Barrys’ Blueshirt best, or whatever brand Soldiers or Labour imbibe. “That’s what I remember,” she says. “Outside mass in Mayo and candidates and supporters arguing about whether de Valera provided tea to people during the war.
“That was the level of the debate, but I was fascinated about it. I re- member strong Fine Gael families and all they’d do was tut-tut about Fianna Fáilers. It was the 1950s and the Civil War thing was still very much there and would come out at election time.
“It was very much rabble rousing stuff in elections then. They’d be on the back of lorries outside mass with loudspeakers, blaring out from loudspeakers. I found it exciting and I suppose it got me interested in politics and interested in campaigns.”
She’s been a junkie ever since, through those highs and lows. “I really got involved after leaving school and moving to Dublin when I got involved in the trade union movement in Dublin. I remember hearing when Michael O’Leary was changing to Fine Gael and this huge disappointment and I was there the night Frank Cluskey lost his seat. He was the party leader and he lost. It was terrible.
“I came to Clare in ‘89 and got involved in the Mary Robinson campaign. I remember working for Fianna Fáil on the tally. The job that the Fianna Fáil crowd gave me was to look out for Austin Currie’s trans- fers, just to see where they were going.
“When I was going up to the Fianna Fáil Director of Elections, Michael Halpin, who was a lovely man, I remember him clearly saying to one of his Fianna Fáil colleagues, ‘who the f ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈ are the 177 people who gave Mary Robinson their first preference in Tulla.’ That presidential election and doing the tally was a great way to get to know people here in Clare.
“Dr Bhamjeé’s election was great too. A cousin of mine in Ennis was working with Dr Bhamjeé and he came along to a few meetings and said he’d like to go as a candidate. It was exciting because people were regarding it as so ridiculous. He had a great confidence about himself. I was his director of elections and we went all out.
“Now I’m an election agent for Michael McNamara and there’s similar excitement but it’s different. Every Labour vote his hard won – he goes down really well on the doorsteps. There’s an energy there and it’s great. All elections are great.”