Preaching the Green agenda in Belmullet

The sight of a Green in Belmullet is almost as rare as the sound of the corncrake in the meadows of the barony but one local man is looking to be a pioneer for the Green agenda.

Micheál 'Boxty' Ó Conaill is the first Green candidate to put his name on the ballot paper in the Belmullet Electoral Area and he wants to change the narrative regarding how the Green Party are portrayed in rural areas.

A native of Foxpoint, a village overlooking Broadhaven Bay, Micheál is well aware that convincing people in the area to vote Green is not an easy job but he feels that the party is a victim of bad press when it comes to its policies on rural Ireland.

“If you read our party policy no where does it say it wants you to stop cutting turf but rural regeneration and decentralisation is part of Green Party policy believe it or not,” he explained.

“Media is responsible for a lot of that [negativism towards Green Party in rural areas] ... The Green Party has done an awful lot for farmers since getting into power. If you look at the reality of what they have done in terms of grant aid, they have done more than any party for farmers in putting money into schemes. The media will never tell you that.”

With that sales pitch, we head off to the village of Geesala on a glorious May day to canvass the village which is home to sitting councillor Gerry Coyle.

Micheál is no stranger to the village where he is the treasurer and also a coach in the local Geesala Boxing Club. It is no surprise then that when he knocks on the doors around the village that the majority of people who answer are on first name terms.

No backlash

The reaction at the doors is polite and civil and there isn't the backlash against the Greens you might expect.

“Here it is different to a lot of places because people are fairly civil apart from the odd person who is misinformed about the Green Party and thinks we are against farming. But they are very rare.

Even if they don't agree with you they will talk to you and allow you to give them your pitch,” he explained.

One man lets him know that he has nothing against Micheál and wishes him the best of luck but what he said about Eamon Ryan would be unprintable for a family paper. Others let him know they will do their best for him (a polite way of saying he hasn't a hope of getting their vote) but by and large the response is positive.

“I am getting a lot of people telling me that they will give me their number two which is good but I mightn't see them if I don't get enough number ones,” he explained.

With that Micheál changes tack on his approach and lets people know that he needs their number one. “I don't want to make it too easy for them … I want to stay in the game for as long as possible,” he says.

Micheál only joined the Green Party in the last number of months and he's effectively a one man band when it comes to canvassing. When he was younger he worked in Dublin as an insurance broker and ran as an Independent candidate when he lived in Leixlip but admits it was 'only for the craic really'.

While he earned good money in Dublin, he found work as an insurance broker as sole destroying and said he was glad to move home to Belmullet where he owned and managed a boxty factory, hence the nickname. A serious car accident meant he had to give up on the factory and later in life worked in the local filling station.

Banter

As Micheál makes his way past the post office a man pulls up in a van and shouts out the window. Finally some Green bashing on the canvass. Well not quite. While the man shouted he was against the Greens for banning turf, it was all in jest as it turns out to be one of the coaches in the boxing club. Talk soon turns to the affairs of the boxing club and the man passes a cheque to Micheál to bank for the club. It wasn't even in a brown envelope.

At the doorsteps, Micheál talks about rural regeneration and giving young people an incentive to live in their home place and not having to move to the towns and cities. Regardless of your colour all politics is local.

The response is positive but turning the positivity into votes may be a different kettle of fish. Micheál knows it isn't easy being green but he is determined to spread the Green gospel before June 7.

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