Sinn Fein doubles vote in Cork by-election
BY ROISIN DE ROSSA
``It was a good result. We're all very pleased.'' Henry Cremin, a
first time candidate, running for Sinn Fein in last Friday's
by-election in Cork South Central, got 1,158 first preference
votes which is more than double the vote the party got the last
time it stood in this area, when Liam Burke got 568 votes in
1992.
``What is more a breakdown of the figures shows a real chance of a
Corporation seat in the South West area in local elections
scheduled for June next year'' said Don O'Leary, Sinn Fein
organiser. ``It would be a great breakthrough for Sinn Fein,
after all that we have suffered in ostracism and exclusion in
this town which has so many problems and so much poverty.''
But what really excited the media about the result was that Sinn
Fein polled above the P.D.s 971 1st preference votes. They are
clamouring with the question, as to whether it is the final nail
in the Progressive Democrats coffin. But some are asking is the
swing to Sinn Fein, which many believed evident at last year's
election, continuing.
``Well of course the Peace Process has been important and the
dropping of Section 31 censorship has certainly made a powerful
difference. At last people have had a chance, amidst the sound
bytes, to hear what Sinn Fein says about some things anyway.
``We found at the doors a lot of young people are drawn to Sinn
Fein. And then we had a great campaign- over three weeks of
campaigning. There was never less than 24 out on the canvass and
sometimes as many as 36,'' Finbarr Walsh, one of the election team
said.
``The media proclaimed that there weren't any issues in the
election, except the drugs issue which Sinn Fein raised! Simon
Coveney, who won his father's seat, for Fine Gael, discovered
that his party had a drugs policy after all which was a new one
on us'' said Don O'Leary.
``Of course there were issues, its just that not all the
candidates care very much about them. We got support especially
in working class estates like Togher, Mahon, Ballyphehane, for
the consistent work we've always done on the drugs issue. And
then we've campaigned on many issues like housing, unemployment,
prisoner release with Saoirse, and recently on the question of
the payment of home helps.
In the case of the home helps for instance, after a well
supported march and meeting, the Southern Health Board agreed to
an increase of 30p per hour for all the home helps, which brought
their wage to £2 an hour. ``Many of the election candidates
thought this was great. Sinead Behan, the Fianna Fail candidate
claimed it as a great advance by the Government'. They really
don't care.
``Its probably best summed up by Sinead Behan, who at a press
conference anounced that she `hadn't come here to talk about
politics, but to talk about herself.' The media, behind the
scenes refered to Sinead and Simon as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
You'd be left guessing how to differentiate between them.
other issue raised in the campaign was that of student grants.
The day before the poll, over 10,000 students from the UCC
student union, USI., Cork RTC, College of Commerce, and colleges
in Limerick and Waterford, marched from the UCC campus to the
city centre. Henry Cremin was the only candidate who bothered to
support the students' protest.
Student grants, many of which still hadn't arrived 3 weeks into
the term, annualise out at a `living wage' of £45 a week, which
is to include rent, ESB and heat which eats up at least £40 a
week. Students are left with £5 upon which to live!
This situation penalises the students who come from poorer
backgrounds, who do not have parents who can support them. It is
very unfair. The poorer student has to take on poorly paid
evening jobs, on top of their study, to be able to afford to stay
in college. Inevitably they cannot do as well as their richer
peers.
Accomodation is hard to find. Some of the accomodation is
disgraceful and dangerous - still the local authorities will not
implement the law requiring inspection of rented accomodation.
Unscrupulous landlords continue to rent out substandard
accomodation. No one cries halt. UCC itself, beautiful college
buildings beside the river, founded in the year of the famine,
has insufficient halls to cater for all lectures and classes.
UCC hired the local Kino cinema, but lectures then got cancelled
when the Film Festival took over. The college is threatening to
cancel some lecture courses altogether. It is a crazy situation.
``Its not that perhaps any of these students themselves had a vote
in the Cork South Central election'', says Don, ``its that there
is firm evidence that people in Sinn Fein are concerned about
issues, even when other people would like to believe there
weren't any. I think that's why the swing to Sinn Fein is
continuing - not just a once off phenomenon coming out of the
peace process and the dropping of Section 31.''
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