DUBLIN SOUTH EAST:JOBS AND the planned Poolbeg incinerator were top of the agenda at the "fair election fair" in Ringsend in Dublin yesterday.
Despite Independent candidate Dylan Haskins saying he was standing on national issues, for the attending public it was very much about local issues, with most predicting a bleak future.
Hosted by Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, candidates in Dublin South East were invited to set up stalls that members of the community could visit.
John Hawkins, a coach in the nearby St Patrick’s Rowing Club, asked why no local candidate had made the incinerator their priority. “I don’t suppose I will get any answers but there is no point in sitting at home and saying that I should have gone. I love Ringsend . . . but I am fearful for the youth,” he said.
Pensioner Mary O’Toole Thompson believed the candidates meant well, but she did not hold much hope for the future. “I’m going to ask them where all the money is supposed to come from. They all have plans and we have some very good politicians in our area but where are they going to get the money?”.
Liz Gannon, a local resident who expected to hear “the same old same old”, said: “I don’t think that I’m going to get anything out of coming here today.”
Overall, locals seemed happy with the individual candidates but pessimistic about the ability of the next Dáil to change things.
“They definitely helped to explain some of the things that are above my head like bonds and all that,” said Fran Nangle, who runs a local security company.
“What we need are local jobs. That incinerator is going to happen and nobody ever came to me about providing security and I would have employed more local people with that,” he said.
Shay Connolly said: “We need to secure local development. We are going to police them to make sure that they deliver on that pledge.” He said all the candidates had pledged their support for that policy.