SELLAFIELD. If there is one single issue on which Louth candidates agree, it has to be the nuclear reprocessing plant across the water. After that, well, "we need a Michael Lowry up here", says Adrian Walker, the Progressive Democrats' director of elections, referring to unemployment and the need to bring jobs to the area.
In spite of two EU-funded multi-million-pound sewerage schemes and road improvements, which have boosted employment, Dundalk and Drogheda are still regarded as blackspots. "We don't have a cabinet minister," says Mr Walker. "Paddy Donegan [the former defence minister] was the last one from here with any clout."
The impact of the North is a constant shadow in a constituency which spreads from the Border beyond Dundalk to the coast at Carlingford and down to the farmlands surrounding Drogheda.
Fractious selection conventions have rattled nerves somewhat in the two major parties: both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have three candidates, and most of the competition is in the north of the county. The sitting Fine Gael TD, Mr Brendan McGahon, was added to the ticket by the Taoiseach after he failed to be selected.
Fianna Fail's convention was no happier. Nevertheless, the sitting TDs, Seamus Kirk and Dermot Ahern are regarded as rock-solid, while their running mate, Maria O'Brien Campbell, has been getting a good response on health and education issues, according to her director of elections, Mr Peter Sands.
One local bone of contention is the plan to amalgamate Drogheda's VEC. She has cast doubts on a Labour claim that the new Co Louth VEC headquarters would be located in the southern town, which has attracted a substantial influx of Dublin commuters in recent years.
The Labour TD, Michael Bell, topped the poll in this constituency in 1992, but few of his rivals believe that he will be able to return another 9,000 first-preference votes. Still, the bookies have been offering odds of 6/4 for Ahern, and 5/4 for Bell, to top it again.
Fianna Fail's "star chamber" selection convention will have done it no favours, according to Labour's director of elections, Pat McDaid. However, Ahern and Kirk are immensely popular. A disenchanted former Fianna Fail member, Alderman Frank Godfrey, will be looking for some transfers, as he is running as an Independent. He has a good base in Drogheda.
Mr McDaid points to the number of planning applications in Drogheda and Dundalk as indicative of the impact of the Government's economic policies on the county. Infra-structural projects, school extensions, and the victory by four Co Louth residents who took on British Nuclear Fuels Ltd are other credits claimed by Labour. The party played a "key part" in the residents' legal action, and the Tanaiste has lobbied continuously at international level on Sellafield, according to Mr McDaid.
However, Fine Gael's Alderman Fergus O'Dowd, Dr Mary Grehan of the PDs and the Green Party's Neil McCann are all closely identified with the nuclear issue. Dr Grehan's research on birth defects and child abnormalities has earned her a national profile, while O'Dowd and McCann have also been very active.
McCann, from the Fyffes banana company family, is a barrister and local councillor. He is a founder of the Stop THORP Alliance Dundalk, and is also campaigning on the waste and recycling issue.
Fine Gael has split the county and intends to conduct strict vote management, with McGahon concentrating on Dundalk and Blackrock, O'Dowd on Drogheda, Clogher-head and hinterland, and Brennan on Carlingford, Ardee and mid-Louth.
All three have a high profile, according to Mr P.J. Roddy, director of elections. McGahon has never been afraid to speak his mind, and is a popular figure on the streets. Lord Mount Charles's performance in polling more than 4,000 first preferences in 1992 means the party has a good chance of a second seat, he says.
Sinn Fein is, as in other Border constituencies, an unknown quantity. Its success in the British general and Northern local elections will stand to its two candidates, Maeve Healy and Owen Hanratty, some local commentators believe.
Healy has been involved in various community groups in Drogheda, while Hanratty is a Dundalk company director, trade unionist and chairman of the party's county branch. At the same time, the party is perceived to be concentrating most of its resources on its candidate bin nearby Cavan-Monaghan.
