Bessboro and immigration raised as Roderic O'Gorman leads Green canvass in Cork
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The mood was polite, confident, almost celebratory. GP and Green Party candidate in Cork South-Central Monica Oikeh was dancing along Oliver Plunkett Street to the tune of 'I’ll Tell Me Ma' played by a nearby busker, to the amusement of Green Party leader and canvasser-in-chief, Roderic O’Gorman.
Party background team members commented among themselves what a nice canvass was underway.
Then suddenly, all came to a grinding halt as Paul Donnelly approached Roderic from just a short distance from the door of the English Market.
Quick to tell the outgoing minister that he hoped that he would not get back in to the next Dáil, Mr Donnelly raised his concerns about Ireland’s immigration policy, saying that people do not know their neighbours anymore and that people are coming in without documentation.
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The Cork South-Central voter said: “I will not be voting for you. I hope you don’t get back in,” adding in a strong Cork lilt: “Your policies are off the wall.”
A polite exchange of views ensued before the two parted ways, with the Green Party leader knowing that his was one vote the party could not count on.
Dr Oikeh cheerfully led the way then towards Mona’s Antiques, hopeful of meeting a friendly face as she had lived over the business when she moved to Cork 10 years ago.
Although her former landlady was not in at the time, she, Roderic, and the unflappable Oliver Moran grabbed the opportunity to press the flesh with the staff member on duty and moved on with a smile on their faces, heading to the English Market.
There, people politely accepted the leaflets pressed into their hands, with one woman mentioning she was from Galway, to which the Green party leader quickly let her know who her local candidate was in her own constituency.
Earlier on the canvass, a similar moment occurred when one woman he approached in Hickey’s on Oliver Plunkett Street told the party leader she was from Tipperary. He quickly told her of his own family connections to the Premier County, outlining that his mother was from Thurles.
During a whistle-sstop visit to the shop, owner John Kennedy engaged with the trio who sought to figure out which constituency he fell into and who his Green candidate for the upcoming election is.
Just outside the door, Mr O'Gorman, the outgoing minister with responsibility for the redress scheme for survivors of Mother and Baby Homes met Daniel Loftus, who engaged the minister with questions around the redress scheme and plans for the Bessboro site.
It later emerges that Daniel is connected to Project Infant, a website dedicated to children and mothers who had gone through Ireland’s mother and baby homes.
His own mother was one of those babies and he told the minister of her efforts to trace her birth family.
He also spoke of his concerns about attempts to develop the site because the location of a children’s cemetery there has not been established.
In September, An Bórd Pleanála refused planning for a €40m apartment scheme on the grounds of the former Bessborough estate — the second time the planning appeals board has refused to grant planning to MWB Two for a residential scheme on the former estate.
Conscious that the time spent chatting to Daniel was time that could be spent ensnaring more votes, Roderic asked him to make contact with his office on it and Oliver Moran swiftly moved into the mop up any unfinished business by asking Daniel to contact him to get details on how to get through to Roderic’s office.