David Norris sets his sights on the Park

SKY'S THE LIMIT Presidential candidate David Norris is pictured at the Octagon in Westport on last Friday evening.

Setting his sights on the Park


Senator David Norris was in Westport last Friday where he was master of ceremonies at a Classical Covies evening (‘Joyce in Words and Song’) later that night. He talked to Ciara Moynihan about, among other things, Westport, mental health, the Seanad, and of course, his campaign to secure a nomination to run for president of Ireland.

David Norris greeted me in the lobby of the Wyatt Hotel before gallantly throwing my coat over his arm and chatting comfortably as we walked to a quiet room, where we could talk without interruption.
To say that the senator oozes charm would be an understatement. His trademark effortless wit is ever at the ready, but always tempered with a genuine passion for our country, its people, its history, its culture and its politics. 
He was evidently delighted to be back in Westport. He was last in the town when he visited Mayo a few months ago for the Famine commemoration in Murrisk, and he was particularly taken with its Georgian architecture. “I looked enviously at some of the houses,” he said, revealing that he loves to look at beautiful buildings and dream about living in them – and that ‘one very big house at the far end of the Mall that was for sale’ had caught his eye. (Of course, his sights are now trained on a different house, in a certain park in Dublin.)
“And the whole west was looking wonderful today,” he continued. “The sun was out – and daffodils everywhere. I remember Ireland when there was real poverty, and flowers would have been regarded as a ridiculous luxury. There were cowslips, buttercups, celandines in the ditch – that was it!” Not so anymore, with window boxes and hanging baskets spilling over with seasonal colours.
The senator is also ‘thrilled’ that Westport Town Council has just offered some land to the Westport Allotments Association for lease. “I think that is brilliant,” he said, explaining that he has lobbied in the past for a state-run allotments programme. His wants the government to set aside land around populous areas for allotments. These parcels of land would be given to people who were out of work. “There’s so many unemployed people, and there’s this pall of gloom over the country at the moment … It’s so important not to stew in isolation, in misery.” Produce grown on allotments not only helps to supplement both diet and income, he said – “there’s also the joy of watching the produce grow. You know, that really does something to the human psychology.”

Three pillars
And human psychology, or more particularly ‘mental health’, is one of the three pillars of the senator’s presidential campaign. Why this issue? He believes that mental health has not been properly handled in this country.
“I think it’s very important to take the stigma away from mental health. One of the problems is that people feel ashamed that they’re down, ashamed that they’re depressed … that it’s their fault and they shouldn’t admit it.” He was keen to emphasise the ‘illness’ in mental illness. “Nobody apologises for having rheumatism, or a cold or deafness – why should there be a stigma about mental health issues?”
The other two pillars of the senator’s presidential campaign are culture and tourism. St Patrick’s Day is one the biggest days on the Irish calendar for promoting our cultural heritage and attractiveness as a holiday destination abroad. Senator Norris himself led the Portlaoise parade, and he was full of praise for parades all around the country. He was particularly taken with the Dublin parade, which, thanks to input from Roddy Doyle, centred on the theme of chasing away ‘the black dog of depression’.
He did note, however, that the ubiquitous over-consumption of alcohol can taint the day’s otherwise uplifting tone. “I don’t think that we should think it’s funny to see people lying on the pavement incapacitated and wearing leprechaun uniforms … I’m not a killjoy; I’m certainly not looking for prohibition, but I’m looking for responsibility.”
Senator Norris went on to highlight the significance of the upcoming visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama for tourism and our image abroad.
“We have the Queen of England coming here – we’ve grown up! And why not! She has a lot of Irish blood – she’s a direct descendent of Brian Boru and Hugh O’Neill.
“And it doesn’t matter a damn about the history … We have to be practical – we have to help this country. You know, where she goes, the cameras will follow, the tourists will follow, the economy will get a boost from it. Why should we cut off our noses to spite our faces on the back of old history and out-of-date grievances and injuries?”
“I also think it was splendid that Enda Kenny was able to deliver the invitation to President Obama and that it was received.”
Senator Norris, though keen to emphasise that he is an independent and not associated with any party, had more praise for Enda Kenny and his new government: “I have to say, I was impressed by the way the team for the new government addressed the situation in Europe with dignity, responsibility and firmness. There was no touching the forelock. There was no begging-bowl mentality. There was the understanding that we’re all in this together, and we all have to stand together.”

Role of the Seanad
The senator was less enthusiastic about the proposal to abolish the Seanad in the new Programme for Government, however. Although he believes in – and has been a long-time advocate for – Senate reform, he maintains the institution remains vital.
“I’ve championed Seanad reform. After I was elected the last time I tabled all the proposals for reform of the Seanad that have been agreed by all of the parties, and guess what? They voted them down. That’s how serious they are about reforming the Senate.
“I think it would be a mistake to scrap it. I think we need some degree of supervision, a critical light shed on government proposals … There’s also the possibility there [in the Seanad] of introducing legislation. I’ve done both, I’ve introduced several pieces of legislation. For example, it took the government six years to catch up with me on the Civil Partnership Bill, and they didn’t completely catch up. But that was important.
“I was involved with Ivana Bacik with the Climate Change Bill … There are a whole rake of things … I got amendments through which are well on their way to creating 1,000 jobs [in biofuel production] in Waterford. The Senate did that. Why did nobody get interested in that? Joe O’Toole and myself got six amendments into the NAMA legislation, making the NAMA authorities accountable to the Oireachtas. That was really significant. And yet they can say ‘they do nothing’. Well, I can tell you this: There are a lot of people who comment on the Seanad who couldn’t find their way into it with a Sat Nav!”
Clearly affronted by the idea that the government would try to do away with the Senate, he pointed out that no government can abolish the Senate. “They lack the power … It is the people that make that decision, and it must go to a referendum of the people.” And a referendum would be a welcome development, he said, as it would mean that both sides – ‘the arguments not just against the Seanad, but also for it’ – would be articulated.

From Seanad to Áras?
It would undoubtedly be an adjustment to move from the cut-and-thrust of Seandad debate to the role of president. But Senator Norris is confident that the transition would be seamless.
“I’ve always met challenges. I know how to behave. But I also know how to make a point. You don’t always have to make it in fiery language. There will be certain very conservative states, for example, and I would behave with great dignity with them. 
“If I win, and I believe I will, then I will be the representative of the Irish people … Yes, I was seen as coming from the fringes in the old days. I was on the margins. But I’ve moved in. The gentleness and understanding of the Irish people has moved me right into the centre. That’s why it was a privilege – it was wonderful for me – to be Grand Marshal down in Portlaoise, in what was seen traditionally as conservative, rural part of Ireland. And they took me to their hearts. The place convulsed with cheers. It was wonderful … people shouting ‘Norris for the Park!’, ‘President Norris’, ‘Vote No 1 Norris’; it was absolutely marvellous.”
Senator Norris’s presidential bid can only be enhanced by his long-standing close association with Ballina native, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. Indeed, the two seem to have led parallel lives for a time.
“She was Mary Therese Winifred Bourke when I knew her first, and her father was a much-loved GP in Ballina. She and I entered college on the same day. We knew each other socially. She and I came first in our subjects respectively, we were both elected to the Foundation of the college, we graduated on the same day, we were on the scholars committee at the same time. I was involved in her first election ever, when she was elected senator. I was one of the 20 signatures on her nomination for election as President of Ireland.
“I have the greatest admiration for Mary Robinson. She had her fingerprints on every progressive social change. People nowadays would find it scarcely credible that 30 years ago women were not allowed serve on juries, simply because of their gender! MΡirín de Burca took that case, with Mary as her barrister.”
Senator Norris was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in Ireland, and Mary Robinson worked with and provided legal counsel to him in his protracted but ultimately successful battle for the decriminalisation of homosexual behaviour. “Young people don’t believe us, they simply think we’re not telling the truth, when we tell them that you could go to jail in Ireland for having a loving relationship with somebody just because they were the same sex.
“And then there was Mrs [Mary] McGee on contraception [Mary Robinson was also barrister in this case (McGee v Attorney General and the Revenue Commissioners)]. Contraception was illegal in this country. And then when they legalised it, you had to get a prescription from the doctor to get a piece of rubber! You know, people now think they were mad in our day … well, you know, we certainly weren’t very much in touch.
“But Mary Robinson had her fingerprints all over those cases, and I think her election as president was an expression by the people of Ireland that we were ready for these changes.
“And the same with Mary McAleese. She was blown out of her home in Ardoyne by loyalist paramilitaries, and yet she was able to come down and extend the hand of friendship to those same loyalist paramilitaries and have them play their Orange tunes on the lawns of Áras an UachtarΡin. That showed wonderful imagination.”
It is thanks to the progressive spirit that saw these presidents elected that Senator Norris believes his time has come. “They were people of their time, who reflected their time. And now in the 21st century – in the second decade of the 21st century – the Irish people have taken to their hearts the idea of diversity. People like myself are no longer on the margins. We have Travellers, people with disabilities, people with learning difficulties, schizophrenia, depression and so on, and they are being brought in, and I think I could help to bring them in, because I represent that recognition of diversity.”
Senator Norris is already relishing the campaign. With obvious glee, he announced: “The game is afoot, as Sherlock Holmes would say! And it’s going to be wonderful and exciting, and I’m enjoying every single second of it.”

The Irish presidential election is due to take place in October 2011. See Living section for a review of the Classical Covies concert, ‘Joyce in Words and Song’.

For further information on the David Norris for President campaign, go to www.norrisforpresident.ie.