Some candidates will do anything to get votes. Labour TD in
Dublin North East Seán Kenny agreed to be a judge in a talent
competition in a local pub last Sunday night but little did he
know what he was in for.
After a week of encountering many new republican voters on the
doorsteps Seán settled down for what he thought would be a
relaxing evening. His face dropped when one of the competitors
launched into the Irish Brigade's SAM song (Chorus: Tiocfaidh ár
lá, Sing Up the `RA, SAM missiles in the sky-eee). Needless to
say the talented competitor did not get through to the next
round.
I noted last week that the Sunday Indo on 25 May had not one
mention of the local elections in the Six Counties the previous
week. Columnist Declan Lynch must have read my piece because he
got Sinn Féin onto the Sindo's front page on Sunday last. The
poor guy was livid when he saw the party's political broadcast on
RTE. It was a ``a lovely video with a soothing female voice'', he
said, but it imparted ``heinous gibberish about drugs'' over scenes
of ``marching delinquents'' and was ``mendacious beyond reason''.
Declan questioned where ``these shaggers'' (Sinn Féin) got the
money for this, inferring that it came from the kidnapping many
moons ago of Ben Dunne. Alas, no. In fact the Sinn Féin Director
of Elections Joan O'Connor has asked me to thank all those who
gave of their time voluntarily to make possible what even the
Sindo had to admit was a first-class production.
Tommy Carroll, Sinn Féin veteran and recent candidate in the
local elections has inadvertently dealt a blow to cross-community
relations. Or, more accurately, he has been dealt a blow.
He was driving along near Craigavon last week minding his own
business, as is his wont. At the same time an American film crew
in a four wheel drive vehicle came out of a side road, looked
left and turned right. Straight into the unfortunate Tommy.
Even more unfortunately, Tommy regained consciousness while lying
in the arms of an RUC man.
The film crew was here to make a documentary about the great
working relationship between Catholic and Protestant bishops in
the Six Counties. Alas, following the accident, they had to
return to the States and their project may have to be abandoned.
What do republicans have in common with Britain's richest
aristocrat, the Duke of Westminster? Certainly
not his wealth, a cool £1,700 million, including large parts of
Fermanagh and Waterford. And not his service in the British
Territorial Army. Nor his politics. His father was MP for
Fermanagh/South Tyrone and leader of the Ulster Unionists.
No the Duke (known to his friends as Gerald) has something in
common with republicans who work tirelessly to rid their
communities of drugs. You may remember the group Concerned
Parents Against Drugs. Well Gerald the Duke has just become a
patron of the charity Parents Against Drug Abuse. Expect the
Irish Independent to start calling him a thug and a vigilante. Or
maybe not.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)