By Eoghan Dockrell
Dull and drizzly, the candidates moved quickly to escape the elements and enter 43 Molesworth Street, the Irish EU headquarters. Caroline Simons of Libertas struggled to find the entrance, but was recognised by a journalist and kindly helped inside. They exchanged numbers and promptly separated into their respective packs. Before the proceedings commenced, the candidates participated in a routine photo shoot. The press corps and other invitees waited patiently, taking full advantage of the complementary snacks.
Moments later, the candidates arrived and moved swiftly into their assigned seats. McDonald, DeBurca and Simons sat on the left; Higgins, DeRossa and Mitchell on the right. The keynote speaker, Silvio Barron, made light of this gender divide and DeRossa quipped, “It used to be a Catholic country; at church, men on the right, women on the left”.
Ms Barron spoke passionately about the need for increased development aid in countries ravaged by war and famine. She stressed that countries, including Ireland, committed to the Millennium Goals cannot renege on their promise of 0.7% GDP, regardless of the current state of public finances. Other topics dealt with in her opening address included gender inequality, education and health, all issues that disproportionately effect people in developing regions.
Fintin O’Toole of the Irish times thanked her for setting the parameters of the debate and then as chairman, proceeded to call on each of the candidates, giving them three minutes to explain what they plan to achieve, in terms of development aid, if elected. Caroline Simons was first up and admitted that her experience was limited in this particular area. That did not stop her from agreeing with all the recommedations forwarded by the speaker. Ms Simons came across as empathetic and articulate. However, her incorporation of the Libertas Lisbon Treaty stance at the end seemed both incongrous and calculating. Finishing up, Ms Simmons told the audience that she must leave for another engagment and scurried off out through the side-door.
The next up was sitting Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell. Without stopping for breath, Mitchell speedily recounted all the committees he worked on that related to helping developing countries. This apparent abundance of experience was in stark contrast to Ms Simons apparent lack thereof. Moments later O’Toole discreetly signalled to Mitchell that his time was up and indicated to Deirdre deBurca of the Greens to take the mike. De Burca had a noticable height advantage over Mitchell. She appeared to lean over in order to take control of the mike.
Her speech concentrated heavily on grave environmental scenario’s that would negatively impact devoloping regions should alternative clean-energy proposals continue to be ignored. She highlighted the need for both developing and developed countries to pursue more vigourously alternative energy solutions. Like most Green party members, energy and the environment are their bread and butter, with deBurca being no exception. Of all the candidates, her speaking style seemed the most mechanical and rehearsed, never once making eye contact with the audience, instead preferring to focus on the back wall.
During the change-over from DeBurca to DeRossa, Eoin Ryan and Patracia McKenna arrived and joined the fray. Eoin Ryan had been attending another press conference and looked as if he was forced to walk from wherever he came from. His suit was wet and his hair dishevelled. Patricia McKenna’s late arrival was due to having officially launched her candidacy in a nearby hotel.
Pronsious De Rossa, the current Labour MEP for Dublin talked about the urgent need to reform international financial institutions, putting particular emphasis on the IMF and World Bank. He called for the outdated Washington consensus to be replaced with a "global justice consensus". De Rossa also spoke about the unacceptably high maternal death rate in developing countries, which stands at approx 500,000, with 80,000 of these being backalley abortions. His speech was somewhat hampered by a tempermental microphone that started to screech intermittently. This clearly frustrated deRossa.
Consequently, Mary lou McDonald of Sinn Fein, after watching the struggle, decided against using the faulty microphone. Her strong voice carried effortlessly to the back row, but much of what she said had already been mentioned. McDonald concluded by stating that developing countries were not only entitled to "free trade", but also "fair trade".
Joe Higgins, the Socialist party candidate, took to the floor next. He received a somewhat inappropriate yelp from the back of the audience. Higgins confidently proclaimed that "international capatilism is to blame". He explained that the global financial institutions were pursuing a neo-liberal agenda and were ‘guitly of huge hypocricy’. He continued, saying that the EU was spending 50 million yearly on Arms and these weapons would be used to "incinerate larger numbers of people".
Patricia Mckenna, former Green Party member turned independant, focused on fisheries and trawlers travelling to Africa, which were unable to dock because of unnecessary trade restrictions.
MEP Eoin Ryan of Fianna Fáil, delivered a ragged performance. When talking about the main diseases plaguing the African continent, he struggled to actually name them. Only aftering prompting from the audience did he say the two names that had escaped his memory, Maleria and HIV. In response to this lapse in concentration he hesistantly stated "I’ve just come from another conference".
After each of the candidates had spoken, Ms Barron delivered a closing statement. She said that overall, the candidates had tackled and engaged with the question of devlepment aid. However, "gender issues are critical to the nature of poverty and the nature of solutions". In relation to the overwhelmingly positive statements made by the candidates, she jokingly remarked "are you the idealists of your party and the rest dont listen?". Ms Barron then turned to the audience, saying that voters ought to reward candidates who bring these "value charged" issues "onto their doorsteps", because only then will they receive the attention they deserve.
