Westmeath Labour will regain former strength, vows Kelly

A campaign to reignite the Labour movement in Westmeath was kick-started last week with a visit by Labour leader Alan Kelly to Mullingar during which publican, Liam Gilleran, and community activist, Fidelma Bennett, formally threw their hats into the political arena.

Westmeath was once a stronghold for Labour, but the party lost out heavily here and elsewhere in last year’s general election and now has no local representative in government and only two members on the county council.

This anomaly, Deputy Kelly told the Westmeath Examiner during his visit, was being addressed, starting with the readiness of what he described as the “these two strong contenders” to take up the challenge.

The Tipperary-based TD said he was confident that the party can win back the seat Labour held from 1992 until sitting TD, Willie Penrose, retired before the last election.

Columb Barracks in Mullingar was an issue close to the heart of Willie Penrose and Deputy Kelly revealed that he was equally anxious that the future of the former army installation should be safeguarded.

He said that the army barracks in his hometown of Nenagh was now near to being condemned and warned that the same fate should not befall Mullingar.

“Such buildings must have a purpose and a use,” he said, suggesting that Columb Barracks could be used as a hub for people wishing to work locally and for incubating services for small businesses, among other uses.

Active Travel – a policy aimed at increasing the use of alternatives to the private car – a controversial issue in Mullingar at present, needs to be properly introduced to insure that those wishing to use motorised vehicles can do so, Deputy Kelly said. “We need a practical, common sense policy,” he added remarking that it was important to ensure the survival of town centres.

In general, Deputy Kelly talked about the need to invest in rural towns. He predicted a rebooting of society post-pandemic with opportunities to work in the local areas.

He spoke of the need to invest in providing the services needed to allow people to work locally and the need for greater investment in health services.

“This constituency needs focus,” remarked Deputy Kelly, accusing Fianna Fáil’s Minister Robert Troy and Minister Peter Burke of Fine Gael of failing to address the wide range of problems facing Mullingar and its surrounds. He said that a number of issues need a centre-left approach to tackle them.

Deputy Kelly said he is confident that Westmeath – which he claimed has the largest Labour Party membership in the country – can regain its grip on the electorate. He said that with people like Liam Gilleran and Fidelma Bennett at the helm, the party was primed to take up the challenge.

Liam Gilleran is chairman of the Mullingar and District Branch of the Vintners Association and proprietor of Gilleran’s public house, close to the GAA headquarters at TEG Cusack Park.

He admitted that he was “chomping at the bit” to get immersed in a positive political crusade.

Mr Gilleran, who describes himself as a man of action, not a fan of meetings, but of getting things done, said he feels that not enough is being done at government level for Mullingar; that the local TDs are talking but doing nothing for the county, and he bemoans the lack of IDA success locally. Declaring that he “can’t wait to get stuck in”, Mr Gilleran remarked that Westmeath was always a great Labour constituency and only lost out last time to a protest vote.

“The bar is a litmus test of the pulse of the county,” Mr Gilleran said, stating that as a publican, he hears the issues that are important to his customers debated across the counter. One such key issue is housing, and he hears from people whose children, now in their 30s, 40s and 50s, have had to move back in with their parents because they have lost their homes, they cannot get mortgages or they cannot afford rent. Landlords setting punitive rental rates should examine their moral compass, he states.

Disability is another issue that is high on Liam’s priority list. He said that a lot of people with a disability find it hard to get work, among them his son, Billy, a qualified immunologist who has multiple sclerosis and cannot get a job. He has huge admiration for Billy for the way in which he has coped with “the hand of cards he has been dealt” and feels that people like him should be given the opportunity to work.

Like many in the hospitality industry, Liam and his wife, Mary (whom he describes as his motivator), were looking forward to Mullingar hosting the fleadh last year, but Covid prevented it going ahead – they are looking forward to it taking place next year.

He feels that the government was not doing enough to enable pubs to re-open and feels that they should give them the money needed to resume trade as it was the government that shut them down. He resents being told how to run his business by people who never stood behind a counter. “No one wants hand-outs but they closed us, now let us trade our way out of it,” he declared.

Liam admits that he was always drawn to Labour, although he comes from a family of ‘Civil War politics’. His grandfather, Dan Aughey, fought in the Civil War and “was a great man to help people” at a time when “everyone looked out for each other”.

His parents worked hard all their lives, his father having come to town to work as a barman before going on to own his own pub, and his mother was a psychiatric nurse in St Loman’s Hospital.

He argues that a centre-left party is needed in government to give a balanced view. He feels that post-pandemic is an ideal opportunity to look at the whole tax system in this country and to reboot it, making it simpler and fairer – “we now have a blank canvas”.

Fidelma Bennett has a lifelong association with Labour, her late father, publican Jimmy Bennett, having been a Labour councillor for 25 years. She works in the homelessness services field and is acutely aware of the need for available and affordable housing and issues such as the need for more school places and childcare facilities.

Fidelma is particularly interested in the Labour Party’s Labour Women section, which focuses on issues like women’s legislation, equal opportunity and equal pay for women and health issues, areas that she would feel “very at home” in promoting.

When asked how she felt about her husband’s foray into politics, Mary Gilleran remarked that it was “something he has wanted to do all his life”. She said that he has her support and the support of their son, Billy, who is 26 years old and has “degrees coming out of his ears”, but he has MS and can’t get a job. She introduced us to one of Billy’s friends, Ancel Boyce, joking that the two of them have regular debates about their common interests – politics and history.

Ancel, who is the party’s area representative for Moate and vice-chairman of the constituency council, was among those who gathered to meet Mr Kelly and he spoke to the Examiner about his involvement in Labour since he was 12. He helps local councillor, Johnnie Penrose, with meeting constituents and sorting out problems in the area.

The Boyces from Rathconrath, Mullingar, have a long association with Labour. Ancel’s grandfather, John, and his great grandfather, Patrick, were founder members of the Ballynacargy branch of Labour and his father, Pat, ran in the local elections in 2004 and 2009.

Others who attended last Tuesday’s gathering at Gilleran’s pub included Cllrs Johnnie Penrose and Denis Leonard, former TD Willie Penrose, Derek Ryan, chairman of the constituency council, Seamus McNamee, long-time Labour stalwart and trade unionist, and Ann Dolan, daughter of the late Senator Tim McAuliffe and proprietor of the Fashion Shop on Pearse Street, Mullingar.