Is there a gap in the political market for a 'Meath First' voice?
Your humble columnist spotted an interesting series in one of the weekend’s newspapers, in which ten contributors were asked to come up with ten ‘Capital ideas’ for Dublin – the premise being, the city has plenty going for it, but perhaps needs a big idea to help address some of its broader social ills. The ideas included installing free showers for use by the homeless, or appointing a ‘night czar’ to stimulate nightlife which is becoming increasingly expensive for promoters (and, therefore, punters).
There’s of course some value to looking for some lightning bolt of genius to keep the capital going as Ireland’s cultural and economic powerhouse. But one thing that struck me across the ten themes is that they all emerged for the benefit of the city’s permanent residents – those who spend their daytimes and night-times in Dublin – but not those who might only be around for nine or ten hours a day.
It’s not the fault of the newspaper in question that ten of its best and brightest – all of whom are actually resident in the city – might overlook the welfare or interests of those who treat Dublin only as a working venue. But it reminded me of the launch of Project Ireland 2040 nine months ago, in which there was virtually nothing of specific use for Meath, with the exception of more transport to make it easier to get in and out of Dublin workplaces in the first place.
It’s funny that such a massive cohort of people would be so often overlooked. Dublin has a ‘daytime working population’ of half a million people. Over 2,000 of those come from Ratoath alone. Another few thousand come from the likes of Dunshaughlin and Ashbourne, not to mention the larger commuter populations in Athboy, Trim and Navan.
One of the ‘Capital Ideas’ observations was that a Dublin-specific political party would do very well.
Maybe the same could be said of our own county. In its electoral history, Meath has never returned an independent TD to Dáil Éireann. If other commuter counties like Wicklow or Kildare can produce non-party candidates who speak solely to local issues, why not
us?
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