Barrett blasts fascination with Mayo political dynasties
"I'm telling Castlebar people a vote for Fianna Fáil in the next general election will elect a Fine Gael TD, probably in Ballina."
by Nathan Keane
Independent Mayo County Councillor Harry Barrett was on a roll, breaking down topics such as housing, emergency healthcare, and the cost of living.
During an interview with The Connaught Telegraph, he was also determined to expose the choices the government has made in creating these issues.
He also expressed his worry about the political system in the county becoming ‘totally dominated by the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael machine’.
I started our discussion by asking Harry whether it feels like a constant uphill battle when tackling the issues that matter to him.
“It is,” he admitted. “It takes a lot of work. I am focused on my representations all the time. It all boils down to what people are coming to me with.
“I’m dealing with a very, very difficult housing situation. I’m dealing with working families who are struggling to make ends meet, because of extortionate rent.
"I’m dealing with people who are stuck in accident and emergency for hours on end. All the while we have huge amounts of derelict properties around the area.
“It is frustrating, but I think I am doing a good job in that space, and putting the pressure on by talking about dereliction all the time. It all comes down to the representations of what people are asking me to talk about.”
In relation to the issues that Councillor Barrett hears about consistently from people around Castlebar, he said housing is one of the central topics.
“Housing is a massive issue. This government, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have lost control of housing.
"Castlebar has never seen the levels of rent that are being charged at the moment. The housing need is massive, we have young families in this town going into emergency accommodation in Knock and Charlestown. It is somewhat a ‘hunger games’ situation for housing in Castlebar. It is very very difficult.
“And, all the while, we have a local authority (Mayo County Council) that’s actually making things worse in some cases. They are snapping up private homes, and putting them into the HAP and the RAS schemes. Taking these homes out of the market, and driving up the price of property for working families.
“For the upcoming generation, the social contract has been broken. We are all told ‘Go to school, get an education, get a job, save for a deposit, and very soon you will be able to afford a home in Ireland.’
"That contract is broken. And it boils down to choices. Myself and others have been calling for the direct build of council houses in this county. We are already spending €50 million a year on HAP and RAS. How many council houses could that €50 million build?
“We have a failed housing strategy, that has delivered what? Record homelessness, and record rents. It is an absolute scandal.”
Harry then talked about the cost of living as a key issue in the Castlebar area.
“People are complaining about the cost of living. They are struggling with their ESB bills. This government is doing nothing on this issue. We have the highest electricity rates in Europe. This is down to choices again.
“Last week they allowed a VAT reduction on the hospitality sector. That’s going to cost €681 million a year. I am saying that yes, for the small enterprises in our regional towns, that’s a good idea. But not for big corporate interests. Do McDonalds need that €681m? Does Pat McDonagh, Supermacs, need that corporate welfare? Does Costa need it? In many cases, these profits are flooding out of the country. That was a choice.”
Then the conversation turned to healthcare.
“Go up to the accident and emergency unit in Mayo University Hospital on a Friday night. Walk around, and see how difficult it is for people. You could have nine elderly patients gathered around the loading bay at the rear of the A&E unit. These are people who have built this country. That is a choice.
“What do we do? We make sure that we reduce demand. We resource our hospital, we resource our district hospital, we employ the doctors to make sure we have proper primary care on the weekends. I guarantee you we wouldn’t have this problem if those choices were made.
“But we have short termism here. We have a two party system now, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who are failing in housing, failing in health, and failing in the cost of living. And that is a choice we are making, every time we go to the ballot box.”
I asked Harry if he thought the HSE was listening to these issues.
“Well, they are absolutely not listening to people like me. I have written to management, and I have written to the minister. But at the end of the day, we have a Health Minister who doesn’t seem to be able to control the space.
"They don’t understand the nature of the A&E problem. They don’t see it as a primary care issue. That’s what it boils down to, that she doesn’t understand the issue at all.
“When I came to Castlebar, you could get a doctor at the weekend. They would come out and visit your home, they were on rota. They knew your family, and they knew your child.
"That continuity of care was there, it’s not there anymore. You ring for a doctor at the weekend, you ring Westdoc, and they say you have to wait six to eight hours because of demand, in flu season.
"What do you tell an elderly person? ‘Sorry you are going to have to wait six to eight hours to see the doctor.’ No, you are going to bring them to A&E. So they don’t even understand the nature of the problem.
“I have raised this at the HSE Forum West, but it’s not getting the airing it needs.
“We need more doctors on call, on rota at the weekend. We need our district hospitals and our primary care centres operating at the weekend to reduce demand on the A&E unit.
"We can build a bigger space, but we are still going to have presentations in that space if we don’t deal with the primary care element. They are not listening.
“That’s the choice we are making, to keep electing governments that keep throwing money at the issue, rather than dealing with the core problems.”
Harry also answered the question of his political party affiliations. Harry is currently an Independent, but was with the Labour Party.
“Yes, I was a member of the Labour Party. I will not be returning to the Labour Party, but I would never say never. It’s all about Castlebar, and the best opportunities for me to deliver for this town and county. At the moment I am a fully committed Independent.
“This brings me to the core part of what I want to talk about, which is the current situation in the county at the moment.
"We have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael effectively acting as a single party. I’ve told you about what we have inherited from them in the last 10, 15 years. There has to be another way.
"There has to be strong opposition voices. So what can we do? We have to elect people who can become ministers, who are independent, who have leverage, who can change the dial. We have to let those voices come in.
“An Independent with leverage is a different animal, as we can see from other Independents across the country, such as the Healy-Raes, what they can do.”
“Political discourse in this town and county is absolutely stagnant. What are we reading about in the local press? Dynasties, royalty, empires.
"Is that going to change the dial that we have been talking about? These royalties, these people who expect power. They expect power, based on what delivery?
"Have a look around, talk to the family that are in emergency accommodation. Talk to the elderly man or woman waiting for thirteen hours in the A&E unit. They haven’t delivered. There has to be another voice, an Independent who has leverage, that can change things, and set out a different course.
“We need to go back to Lemass economics. Seán Lemass, what did he do? He directly built the council houses, he directly built the infrastructure, when we had no money. It is possible.
“We are spending €50 million on RAS and HAP at the moment, that €50 million could be pumped into building council houses. We could deal with the A&E unit within a year and a half by hiring young graduate doctors to work in communities, giving them state contracts, making them work at the weekends, on rota, like we did in this county twenty five years ago.
“There are solutions, but we are hell bent on this inheritance of power in County Mayo. I stand completely against that. There has to be a look again at those that provide change.
“And I’m saying in particular, take a look at the next general election. Take a look at the Galway by-election. What happened to Fianna Fáil votes in the last by-election?
"They transferred seamlessly to Fine Gael, and they elected a Fine Gael TD. That’s going to happen in this county. That’s going to happen here, in the Castlebar area.
"Castlebar Fianna Fáil votes will elect a TD in Ballina. A TD with the same philosophy we have talked about. Expensive ‘affordable’ homes, no provision for primary care, expensive rents, a complete abandonment of social provision in the housing space.
“I want the social contract for people and their families. We are being lulled into a false sense of security. We are being lulled into voting for the dynasties and the royalty. I’m not dynasty or royalty.
“I grew up in a council house. I fought for fifteen years to earn my council seat. I know I have to work twice as hard, three times as hard to hold it, I am not royalty.
“I’m telling people, a vote for Fianna Fáil in the next general election will elect a Fine Gael TD, probably in Ballina. It’s the same system again.
“We are falling asleep voting for the same broken system. A vote for one is a vote for the other. They now transfer seamlessly to each other. I am against that.”
Harry concluded by posing the question: “Can we (Mayo people) settle on a strong Independent with leverage, who wants to do something different?”