Warm welcome despite chilly weather in Cootehill

A frost-kissed and chilly Cootehill provided a sharp contrast to the warm and sunny reception that greeted Fianna Fáil’s Deputy Brendan Smith and his team while out on the campaign trail in the town last Wednesday. In one shop along the town’s main thoroughfare, a woman met him at the door exclaiming, “Brendan, I won’t forget you; when I was in trouble, you were the only one that helped me.”

In true form, Deputy Smith quipped back: “Well, “I’m in trouble now and I need your help.”

“You’ll get it, Brendan,” affirmed the smiling woman.

Further down the street, where council workers were resurfacing part of the road, the local TD and his team stroll into another business where he announces: “Hello all, I’m doing a bit of canvassing and I’d appreciate your support.”

“Well, you’re looking well Brendan,” says one woman appearing from behind a clothes rail.

“And so are you,” he responds jovially before the woman laughs: “Well, when you get to my age you’re lucky to be alive.”

A little further down the street a woman tells Deputy Smith that, if he helps her to get her house fixed up, she’ll vote for him. “I’ve been on to all the councillors,” she lamented before claiming “none of them helped me.”

Deputy Smith proceeds to write his number on a political flyer and hands it to her saying, “Ring me later and I’ll chat to you then.”

It was into the butcher’s shop next where the local TD addressed the staff as Gaeilge, “Ah tá sibh ag obair,” he says, while everyone else gets into the spirit. The conversation switches back to English with promises of votes on polling day for the long-serving Cavan-Monaghan politician. Then the slán go fóills are exchanged and it’s back out onto the street again.

As he walks purposefully towards another business, Deputy Smith is greeted with “Oh, I’ll surely vote for ya Brendan” from a man on the forecourt of a nearby petrol station. The man then bounds over, beaming and singing Deputy Smith’s praises, intent on shaking the TD’s hand.

“Will you vote for me?,” asks Deputy Smith of another business owner further up the street. “I’ll not,” she says, “because I won’t be in the country; I’m going on a cruise.”

“Well,” he asks, not missing a beat, “will you get somebody to substitute your good self?”.

“Oh, I will surely,” she replies. “Well, I appreciate that,” laughs the deputy before heading out the door and onto the next port of call.

Housing and emigration on the doorsteps

Over in a residential part of town, a lady tells Deputy Smith that her daughter is being evicted from her rented accommodation because the landlord is selling up. Her concern is evident, and the local TD asks her to send him a text, adding, “I’ll call you in the morning”.

At another house, one man on the door shares his concerns around immigration.

He tells Deputy Smith that his daughter worked locally for a number of years before embarking on a career move to London. She returned to Cootehill sometime thereafter and, while at the local social welfare office, she was told that she wouldn’t be entitled to Job Seekers Allowance until six months later.

“Meanwhile,” added the man, “an immigrant family were next to her being told about what they were entitled to and how it would be backdated to when they arrived into this country.”

Deputy Smith admitted that the system needed a complete overhaul and said he would post a copy of Fianna Fáil’s immigration manifesto, which, he said “outlines what needs to be done to streamline matters”.

With regard to the man’s daughter, Deputy Smith added: “Your daughter should have got assistance. There’s a system there that allows for payments while waiting for Job Seekers Allowance; it’s what’s known as the Supplementary Welfare Allowance payment, which your daughter would have been entitled to. She should have got that and she was badly advised. In fact, there’s no excuse for that.”

Elsewhere, and chatting along the street as he moves onto the next stop, Deputy Smith appears chuffed with the “warm welcome” he is receiving in Cootehill.

He also reveals some of the feedback he has been getting on the campaign trail.

“There are issues that I’m concerned about; I told Micheál Martin yesterday that we have to make more progress on affordable housing and that we have to make more progress on providing timely support, and services for children with additional needs.”