By Brigid O Gorman
It’s one or the other according to Nessa Childers, who was talking in Carlow on Friday as she continued to make her way around the East in her efforts to be elected as Labour’s MEP in the area.
“If I’m elected …I’d like to run a conference or seminar on the role of the media in Europe and in Government in general, it’s a fascinating subject to me because you and politicians have this kind of symbiotic or parasitic relationship, whichever way you’d like to put it,” said Ms Childers. She said she does not feel the media examines the role it has to play in Europe and that she would “like to facilitate a dialogue, a national or international conversation, about that”.
When journalists criticise the fact that the public don’t know about Europe, Ms. Childers says she tells them: “OK, if I’m elected, you have a slot every four weeks for MEPs and I’ll come on and I’ll talk about things, not just policy but what I’m doing over there so that people then say ‘oh there’s Nessa’. She also said that, if she is elected, she plans to have a “branded vehicle” which she will run a mobile constituency clinic out of, “so the people see me…and just that I’m there”.
Ms. Childers also expressed the hope that, if she is elected to Europe, there will be harmony among the MEPs in the East: “In Irish politics there is too much competition and not enough cooperation and my hope would be, certainly that in Ireland East, the MEPs who are elected, from whatever party, would be insomuch as possible co-operating for the particular area they represent.” She predicted the East will elect one Fianna Fáil, one Fine Gael and, naturally, one Labour MEP.
She and Mairead McGuinness are already in sync on one issue because she echoed Ms. McGuinness’ words from last week, that domestic issues are dominating the campaign trail: “The Lisbon Treaty, back in October, November was a bit of an issue, I don’t think a single person, maybe one person, has asked me about it, nearly always people who are against the Lisbon Treaty. It seems to have, and I would say probably inappropriately, disappeared as an issue and it’s national issues that are coming up on the doorsteps.”
When it comes to young people in the East she does feel that they are becoming more interested in politics and more politicised probably “because they are on the verge of suffering more hardship.”
Ms Childers, like all of the other candidates, is trying to cover the whole Eastern area before the elections and is literally canvassing all day, everyday. Despite this she says: “Campaigns are fun as well; you enjoy them because you talk to so many people and all politicians like talking.”
It’s one or the other according to Nessa Childers, who was talking in Carlow on Friday as she continued to make her way around the East in her efforts to be elected as Labour’s MEP in the area.
“If I’m elected …I’d like to run a conference or seminar on the role of the media in Europe and in Government in general, it’s a fascinating subject to me because you and politicians have this kind of symbiotic or parasitic relationship, whichever way you’d like to put it,” said Ms Childers. She said she does not feel the media examines the role it has to play in Europe and that she would “like to facilitate a dialogue, a national or international conversation, about that”.
When journalists criticise the fact that the public don’t know about Europe, Ms. Childers says she tells them: “OK, if I’m elected, you have a slot every four weeks for MEPs and I’ll come on and I’ll talk about things, not just policy but what I’m doing over there so that people then say ‘oh there’s Nessa’. She also said that, if she is elected, she plans to have a “branded vehicle” which she will run a mobile constituency clinic out of, “so the people see me…and just that I’m there”.
Ms. Childers also expressed the hope that, if she is elected to Europe, there will be harmony among the MEPs in the East: “In Irish politics there is too much competition and not enough cooperation and my hope would be, certainly that in Ireland East, the MEPs who are elected, from whatever party, would be insomuch as possible co-operating for the particular area they represent.” She predicted the East will elect one Fianna Fáil, one Fine Gael and, naturally, one Labour MEP.
She and Mairead McGuinness are already in sync on one issue because she echoed Ms. McGuinness’ words from last week, that domestic issues are dominating the campaign trail: “The Lisbon Treaty, back in October, November was a bit of an issue, I don’t think a single person, maybe one person, has asked me about it, nearly always people who are against the Lisbon Treaty. It seems to have, and I would say probably inappropriately, disappeared as an issue and it’s national issues that are coming up on the doorsteps.”
When it comes to young people in the East she does feel that they are becoming more interested in politics and more politicised probably “because they are on the verge of suffering more hardship.”
Ms Childers, like all of the other candidates, is trying to cover the whole Eastern area before the elections and is literally canvassing all day, everyday. Despite this she says: “Campaigns are fun as well; you enjoy them because you talk to so many people and all politicians like talking.”
