A national name won't mean local votes for Colm

Saturday February 17th 2007

This weekend's pre-election PD conference in Wexford aims to boost Colm O'Gorman's vote. Political Correspondent FIONNAN SHEAHAN reports

It's not an easy time to be a Progressive Democrat.

The record low showing in a recent poll has sparked a spate of jokes at the party's expense. To take account of their measly 1% support, the wags are suggesting the plural be removed from the party title to rename them the 'Progressive Democrat'.

And given the three point margin of error in polls, their opponents are saying their real rating might be -2%.

In that climate, try carving out a seat as a first-time candidate in a county where the party has little or no track record. That's the task facing Colm O'Gorman, the campaigner against sexual abuse, who is running for the PDs in Wexford.

This weekend, the spotlight will fall on the founder of the campaign and support group, 'One-In-Four', as the PD conference is held for the first time in Wexford.

Wexford was chosen ahead of the party's traditional heartland of Galway for the pre-election conference to give O'Gorman's campaign a boost.

The PD leadership is hoping that bringing the entire party, including Michael McDowell and Mary Harney, down to the county will be seen as a vote of confidence in his ability to take a seat and become a player for the county on the local and national stage.

It will also be a chance to build up and enthuse his own team of supporters ahead of what will be a difficult campaign.

O'Gorman's hasn't exactly been out of the limelight in recent weeks, but not for welcome reasons.

In recent days, he vowed he wouldn't be driven out of public life by critics of his decision to care for two children along with his partner, Paul Fyffe. "I am not going to be defined in any way by somebody else's hang-ups," he said.

The couple are the guardians of two children aged 10 and eight, and now live at their relatively new home in Ballymoney, near Gorey, in Co Wexford, where the children attend a local school.

The children's Kenyan mother, Suzy, was a long-time friend and he had known both children since they were born. The guardianship came about when their mother became too ill to care for them herself and he was her automatic choice to take on the responsibility.

After being the subject of a blistering attack in a Sunday newspaper, Monday's Joe Duffy Liveline on RTE Radio 1 was dominated by calls on his personal situation and his views on the potential for gay people to adopt children. Some of the remarks directed against O'Gorman were described as "anti-gay" and "homophobic".

The latest controversy was sparked by his appearance on The Late Late Show a fortnight ago. He was surprised that questions from presenter Pat Kenny concentrated on his family situation and views on gay adoption but denied he was complaining about it.

But then O'Gorman wasn't invited on to the country's leading talk show simply because he is another bog-standard election candidate.

O'Gorman is an articulate speaker, usually at ease with whatever subject is thrown his way since he came to prominence over his role in exposing clerical sexual abuse.

The campaigner was subjected to horrific sexual abuse by the infamous priest Fr Sean Fortune in the early 1980s. After a long battle he received an apology and ?300,000 in damages from the Diocese of Ferns.

He was also later instrumental in having the Ferns Inquiry into clerical sex abuse established, the revelations of which appalled the nation.

So far, the locals in his native Wexford haven't exactly bowled O'Gorman over with their enthusiasm to see him become their TD.

This week's edition of The Guardian local newspaper carries odds on the election from Celtic Bookmakers, owned by former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates.

Yates puts O'Gorman at 100-1, trailing every other candidate in the field. Just to illustrate the bookies' lack of faith in O'Gorman's chances, the next longest shot is independent candidate Alan McGuire on 8-1.

This thumbs-down for O'Gorman comes just a few months after a TG4 poll also showed him coming last, with just 1pc of the vote in the county.

TNS mrbi's analysis of their poll was almost understated in its assessment on his task: "Colm O'Gorman (PDs) polled surprisingly poorly and was eliminated on the first count. He would need to dramatically increase his first-preference vote to have any chance of election."

Ironically, the man who most believe would win a seat in Wexford, for the PDs or any other party for that matter, will be a guest speaker at the party conference this morning.

Though there's no shortage of political admirers, Liam Griffin, the inspirational manager who took Wexford to their last All-Ireland hurling win in 1996, has stayed out of party politics, choosing instead to concentrate on his impressive hotel chain.

Pundits locally believe it is not beyond the bounds of possibilities for the PDs to win a seat, if the likes of Griffin were on the ballot paper, but that O'Gorman just isn't right.

Even on a good day for the PDs, O'Gorman would be up against it; but with the tide against the PDs, it's an even more improbable goal.

There are a number of reasons put forward for O'Gorman being written off. First off, the PDs is not seen as the appropriate badge for him to wear and there is a perceived disjoint between the businesslike party and the social justice candidate.

Unbeknownst to the party's sitting TD, Brendan Howlin, Labour HQ did actually want O'Gorman to run for them and he was presented with an award by Pat Rabbitte's party, but he decided to pitch for the PDs.

Secondly, he is more of a national than a local grassroots figure and needs to broaden his appeal beyond his campaigning background, for which he is known best.

"I thought he would have a stronger impact. He's probably clever enough to realise he can't do it just as an anti-child abuse advocate. He has to be a Wexford advocate and build a PD organisation. But he's on the back of the local paper in Gorey saying he is out canvassing three times a week - sure, that's nothing," a keen observer of Wexford politics said.

Thirdly, although Wexford has now been sucked into the commuter belt of Dublin, the county is still a staunchly rural constituency with traditional Catholic values, so not everyone would be a fan of his and he is seen by some as a marginal figure in the county.

The strongly held belief is that if there is any change to the traditional line-up of 2 Fianna Fail, 2 Fine Gael and 1 Labour TD, it will come from Sinn Fein.

Unless this weekend can produce a quite dramatic upturn in his fortunes, O'Gorman looks destined to get a respectable, but hardly impressive 3,000-odd votes, and go out in the early counts.

His political career at that stage will be dependent on the PDs getting back into government and Tanaiste Michael McDowell appointing him as a senator - the Upper House of the Oireachtas being regarded as a more natural home for his talents.

? Irish Independent