Senator Ivana Bacik - Blog
Over to the voters
Posted on February 25, 2011
Well that’s it…last door knocked at 9.20pm. Was tempted to continue but the good sense of others prevailed and I joined campaign workers and Dun Laoghaire Labour members, each and every one who has given their all over the past long, often wet and always hectic campaign.
I contested this election out of a deep sense of conviction. I want Ireland to be prosperous, fair and equal. I want every citizen to feel part of our society, to contribute to our progress and to know that in return our society will ensure that there is a basic level of decency below which no one will fall.
A Treatise on Thresholds:
Posted on February 22, 2011
Fancy title hey! – but it’s not that complicated. Basically there are two type of thresholds: ones you should cross and ones you shouldn’t. I met them both this weekend.
Firstly the threshold you shouldn’t cross – that of the charming voter. I arrived on a doorstep on Friday, soaking wet but enjoying a positive canvass. Not for the first time I was invited to step into the hallway out of the rain. Having resisted up until then I made the fatal canvassing error of going inside at the second time of asking by a very charming constituent.
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This one's from the hip
Posted on February 17, 2011
This one’s from the hip:
I am constantly inspired by the members of the Labour Party who give so much of their time, genius and energy at election time.
This time out in Dun Laoghaire the dedication of my fellow members of the Labour Party has been above and beyond the call of duty. We’ve enjoyed over a decade of summer elections – long evenings canvassing in the waning sunlight, with casual chats about flower beds and do those water bottles actually keep dogs away.
Not so this time out. February has been wet and cold, not ideal canvassing weather. However, on the plus side the appearance of a soaked and dishevelled candidate on the doorstep has resulted in a few number ones, probably out of sympathy!
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It's a serious business but...
Posted on February 09, 2011
It’s a serious business but……
I’m prone to the odd fit of giggles – you know that shoulder shaking, dimple-bending feeling that comes over you at generally the most awkward.
One struck last week, just before an appearance on RTE.
I was invited to take part in RTE’s new Primetime Late programme. It’s a really good scheduling idea and the aim is not to rerun the day’s election events but to take a step back and debate more fundamental issues of political identity and belief.
Tis Yourself
Posted on February 07, 2011
Blog Post – Tis Yourself
Blackrock, 11.50am Saturday morning.
“Tis yourself…I was hoping you’d call round.”
In normal circumstances this is a warm greeting that promises pots of tea, gossip and ‘go on sure you’ll have another one’.
On the canvas it means something different. It generally translates as ‘Ah now I’ve got you, I’ve a bone to pick with you.’
And so it proved in Blackrock at 11.50am on a weepy wet Saturday morning.
Now there’s a thing about canvassing -there’s lots of experts. They generally haven’t done much of it but they offer plenty of advice “60 seconds on a door – no more” that type of thing.
Fianna Fáil spin sound vaguely familiar?
Posted on February 03, 2011
So Brian Lenihan was at it this morning, ‘our policies are working’, ‘we’re turning the corner’. Hard to take from a party that have bankrupted the country, seen the return of emigration and condemned thousands to the dole queue?
Well it’s not like they haven’t done it before.
In 1981 Fianna Fáil faced the electorate after ruining the country – in the two years since Haughey assumed the leadership of the Party unemployment had reached record levels, the budget deficit spiralled out of control and emigration ripped every community apart.
It’s nearly twenty years exactly since Fianna Fáil ran this ad in the 1981 election. It was a lie back then and they are up to similar tricks now.
Dáil dissolved, posters up, campaign launched, man assisted from hedge - GE 2011, Day 2.
Posted on February 02, 2011
End of Day 2 of GE 2011 and we’ve hit the ground running at breakneck pace. The enthusiasm, determination and sense of purpose among the Labour team in Dun Laoghaire bodes well for the campaign.
Just in from third night in a row on the doors this week and the devastation FF has caused to families is palpable. Hardly a household hasn’t been touched by emigration, unemployment or pay cuts. That, added to a real sense of betrayal at what FF has done to the country, is the overriding impressions of canvassing.
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