The Floating Voter

Two newly elected councillors have called for urgent action on racism after being subjected to bigotry on the campaign trail.

The councillors, who are both from minority backgrounds, have recounted how their intelligence was questioned and they were branded “paper Irish” while canvassing.

Poll topping Green Party councillor Hazel Chu also revealed she separately had to collect her brother from a hospital emergency department when he was the victim of a racist assault.

Ms Chu’s mother, who was born in Hong Kong, was also racially abused and hit with an ashtray while working in a restaurant.

Speaking to Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, the Dublin City Councillor said: “The thing is with people being racially biased it has always happened in Ireland so there is always an undercurrent there but what has happened in the last five years it is a lot more brazen.”

“They don’t call it racism, they say it is an issue with immigration and they point to fact that it is controlled immigration what they need rather than they don’t want immigration. It’s a different conversation but it is becoming a louder conversation,” she added.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Councillor Yemi Adenuga described how voters asked her if she was “intelligent enough to run” for the council and told her she was taking Irish jobs by becoming a politician.

“The reality is you are seeing more and more of it because it is not dealt with,” the Meath County Councillor said

“We are sweeping it under the carpet and we are saying we are dealing with it well and we’re not that bad.

“When you don’t deal with issues like this it escalates and my worry would be that more and more people will become more influenced by it.

“People who ordinarily wouldn’t have made it an issue would think about it and make it an issue and then you see more of it happening,” Ms Adenuga added.

The Nigerian born councillor also discussed growing up in a polygamous home where her father had seven wives and 27 children.

A MINISTER has admitted to experiencing a ‘brain fart’ while outlining the new rules behind counting in the European elections on radio.

On RTÉ’s ‘Morning Ireland’ last Tuesday, John Paul Phelan said the transfers of the final candidate eliminated would not come into play in the constituencies set to gain an extra seat after Brexit.

But as barristers and returning officers in Dublin and Ireland South were wading through the relevant legislation, Mr Phelan reappeared on radio to clarify he had gotten the situation completely wrong.

Speaking on Independent.ie’s ‘Floating Voter’ podcast, the Minister for Electoral Reform has said he was embarrassed by the “cock up”.

“I had a kind of a brain fart on Morning Ireland. I admit to it. I doubted myself,” he said, adding that it was “pretty horrific”.

Mr Phelan explained that a number of people had been circulating an outdated version of the legislation on social media.

“I cocked up spectacularly so. I’ll be careful about who I take legal advice from in the future.

“It was a stupid mistake to make but who hasn’t had one of those,” he said.

In the podcast, the Carlow/Kilkenny TD also discusses the fallout from the Maria Bailey controversy.

He says as Fine Gael’s director of elections he was getting feedback from candidates around the country and “none of them were very happy”.

However, he adds: “I think it would have had a much deeper effect in a general election context.”

Speaking about the senior minister in his department, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, he says the suggesting that young people should be ‘excited’ about co-living was “perhaps unfortunate”.

Mr Phelan also discuss the failure of plebicites for directly-elected mayors in Cork and Waterford. And he outlines plans to fast-track an election for a mayor in Limerick.

Responding to cricitism of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar by ex-minister Alan Shatter in his new book, Mr Phelan suggests it’s a case of “the green-eyed monster”.

Mr Shatter claims the Taoiseach was not obsessed with his media image and not collegial.

European Parliament candidate Peter Casey has described himself as an “Irish racist” with three days to go before the election.

The controversial Irish American businessman said he makes “no apologies” for describing himself as a racist and continued to criticise the EU’s policies on migration.

Speaking on Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, Mr Casey said: “I’m not going to apologise to the political correct brigade.”

The Donegal based politician was responding to a video uploaded to Twitter in which he was recorded saying: “People say ‘you’re racist’. Of course I’m racist, I’m a very proud Irish man.”

During a heated podcast debated, Mr Casey claimed he later described himself as an “Irish racist” when he was being filmed speaking on the street in Dunboyne, Meath but this was not uploaded to the social media platform.

“I’m proud to be Irish and if you’re not proud to be Irish then you have a problem with that,” he told the Floating Voter.

Mr Casey also denied he was deliberately stoking racial tensions during the election campaign by raising issues around migration.

The businessman, who has spent most of his life living in America, called for stronger borders in Ireland and Europe to prevent further migration. He also claimed the Government are “lying to people bout migration”.

Mr Casey said the country “cannot afford” people coming into Ireland illegally and called for tighter passport controls.

However, he refused to criticise Irish people who are living illegally and not paying taxes in the US. Mr Casey said the plight of the undocumented Irish was a “sad situation”.

“They go to American and they don’t arrive and say ‘can I have a free house, free education, free social welfare. They get off the plan and they start working the very day they get there,” he said.

Mr Casey also doubled down on his comments on Fine Gael candidate Maria Walsh who chasing the “pink vote” because of her sexuality.

“If the cap fits wear it. She’s going after a certain vote and that’s fine. I don’t have any issue with that,” he said.

He added: “She keeps reminding us she represents the young people, she’s well past her 20s now”

In a special live episode of the Floating Voter from Jameson Distillery Bow St, INM's Kevin Doyle and Philip Ryan were joined by four of the Dublin candidates in the up-coming European election.

Mark Durkan (Fine Gael), Barry Andrews (Fianna Fail), Ciaran Cuffe (The Green Party) and Clare Daly (Independents4Change) were on stage in front of a live audience to discuss some of the European issues affecting Irish citizens, the dangers of the Farage and the rise of the far right, why they're running and what they'd like to see implemented by the European parliament.

For more episodes from the Floating Voter, go to:

https://www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-floating-voter/

Culture Minister Josepha Madigan says the Divorce Referendum is needed because there are no guarantees in life - or marriage.

"People often don't realise that divorce is one of the most emotionally-traumatic devastating experiences for people. It takes them years to get over it," she said.

Despite herself being happily married for 17 years, "nobody knows sometimes what's around the corner."

"This is about showing compassion and humanity to those people who find themselves in situations where their marriage has broken down," she said.

However under the proposed amendment to the Constitution, there must still be no chance of a reconciliation when a divorce is granted.

"There has to be irretrievable breakdown of their marriage, so no prospect of reconciliation. That is still going to remain in the Constitution and also proper provision will be made for both spouses and any dependant children. Those comforts, if you like, are still going be there."

"The time limit, I think is reasonable," she said of the proposed two-year mandatory separation period.

"It's in line with other jurisdictions. If you think that Italy and Greece and other jurisdictions have no time limits at all. Spain is a year for example. So I think two years is a sufficient amount of time. It's a reasonable amount of time. One year I thought was a bit quick. When I did the research on this, the end of a marriage is a grief for people..."

The former family lawyer said there were fears during the last Divorce Referendum of a subsequent deluge of divorce cases, which never happened.

"We still have the lowest marital breakdown (rate) in Ireland. It's one in ten."

"I don't see that happening. I think one of the great things about the Irish people is that we really respect marriage.

This is about respecting marriage. But it's also about helping those people who find themselves in a situation where their marriage hasn't worked out."

The question that will be put to voters will be a simple yes or no answer regarding removing the time limit out of the Constitution and whether they support a uniform approach to the recognition of foreign divorces in Ireland, she confirmed.

Former Communications Minister Alex White has insisted the Labour Party is no longer toxic and said candidates are being welcomed by voters with “open arms” ahead of the upcoming elections.

Mr White, who is running in the Dublin constituency for the European Parliament elections, said “doors are swinging open” and voters are telling Labour candidates they have been treated unfairly in recent year.

He said the level of public support for their local election candidates was also "palpable".

Speaking to Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, Mr White said: “We are going to do better than 2014 and 2016 I believe in terms of numbers.”

“You can just see it. It’s palpable at the moment. People are just telling us this - unless they are really misrepresenting what they are going to do,” he said.

“The words Toxic and toxicity are over used in politics now. It’s a bit of a cliché but definitely it’s gone out of it in relation to this attitude to us,” he added.

However, he said the negative reaction towards Labour has been replaced with an indifference to politics in general.

“You may say it has been replaced by indifference which is not great either but there is an awful lot of indifference general towards politics and generally towards politicians which is a bit disturbing actually,” he said.

Mr White also described the protest at a Fine Gael town hall meeting Cork by a group called the Connolly Youth Movement was “nasty” and “undemocratic”.

A senior Fianna Fáil TD has said he was “mortified” by party colleagues who queued up in the Dáil chamber to meet rock star Bono.

Darragh O’Brien said the behaviour of Fianna Fail members and politicians from other parities who lined up to meet and take selfies with the U2 frontman was “unedifying” and “cringeworthy”.

Bono was invited to attend the Dáil to hear a speech by US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Speaking on Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, Mr O’Brien said: “A load of colleagues seemed to be star struck.”

“There was message there to be listened to and then it turned into a circus or a carnival. I thought it was unedifying to be honest and it made me quite uncomfortable just looking at it,” he added.

Mr O’Brien also took aim at colleagues who used their phones to take photographs in the Dáil chamber which is against Oireachtas rules.

“It isn’t something that is allowed and people should be a little bit more aware of where they are but also the position they are in,” he said.

Among those taking photographs and queuing to meet Bono was Mr O’Brien’s constituency colleague Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates running for the European Parliament elections in Dublin have discussed a potential vote pact ahead of polls opening in May.

On Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, Fianna Fáil candidate Barry Andrews says he would be open to a vote pact with former SDLP leader Mark Durkan who is running for Fine Gael.

“We’d be open to it if Mark is willing to offer it,” Mr Andrews says. The former minister of State’s comments follows Fianna Fáil and the SDLP announcing an all Ireland policy partnership. Mr Durkan did not rule out a vote pact with Mr Andrews but similarly did not say he would open to the offer now that he is running for Fine Gael.

Separately, Mr Andrews defends his record as GOAL chief executive and explains why he is going before the electorate again after the hammering he got in the 2011 General Election.

Mr Andrews says “a lot has changed” since he left politics and insists he had built up a “bank of experience” after the devastating election for Fianna Fail during the financial crash.

Meanwhile, Mr Durkan, who has recently joined Fine Gael, defends his decision to run in the Dublin rather than Northern Ireland now that UK is set to contest the EU elections.

The Derry man says he wants to run in Dublin so he can represent citizens across the entire island of Ireland and protect the Good Friday Agreement. He says candidates running in the North may have to contest on a “time limited” and “scope limited” mandate.

Mr Durkan also attempts to name the main characters from the hit comedy show The Derry Girls, while Mr Andrews is quizzed on his knowledge of Dublin GAA.

A government minister has rejected the suggestion that Ireland is “in denial” over the reality of what a crash-out Brexit will mean for the Irish Border.

Influential news organisation the Financial Times has reported a nervousness in Europe over a perceived reluctance to detail of how the Irish government plans to protect the single market in the event of a hard Brexit.

A senior diplomat is quoted as saying: “Our friends in Ireland are still in a state of denial. We are not talking about building a wall, but we need to preserve the integrity of the single market”.

The diplomat went on to say some in Dublin are beginning to understand, but others are less clear.

However, Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee rejected the suggestion.

Speaking to the Floating Voter - Independent.ie’s political podcast - she said she always receives a message of support from her colleagues across Europe who say “we’re behind you..we know you can’t put up any border”.

“I don’t think so and this is the whole point of it. We know how bad it would actually be if that is the case and that’s not a denial. We know how hard and how difficult it would be to protect the invisible border but what that possibly means for the rest of the island, what that possibly means for certain industry and sectors,” she said.

Today German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with a group of people from the Border region in Dublin before a meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The Meath East TD said this was not an effort to convince Ms Merkel to stand over her support for the Irish position.

“It’s just about making sure that she has an opportunity to meet these people and for them to know that she supports them,” she said.

Pressed on why there were not yet solid proposals on how to avoid a hard border in a no deal scenario Ms McEntee that things had not moved into that space yet.

“We’re in conversations. The discussions with the Commission have started to increase more in terms of what that might look like. But there are no concrete proposals because we are not in that space yet,” she said.

Ireland needs to stay focused on the fact that Britain wants a deal she added.

Irish farmers will “absolutely” use Northern Ireland as a backdoor into Britain if the UK's no-deal Brexit plans are implemented, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president has said.

IFA president Joe Healy dismissed Britain’s no deal contingency plans as “crazy” and said farmers would take advantage of the Northern Ireland border loophole.

Speaking to Independent.ie’s Floating Voter podcast, Mr Healy said: “I was wondering if I was misreading it this first time I read it because I said ‘this is crazy stuff’”

“If it wasn’t Brexit you would say it was a joke but because it is Brexit you think this could be serious,” he added.

Prime Minister Theresa May has suggested she would not introduce tariffs on trade going from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland in the event of a disorderly Brexit. However, she would charge tariffs on goods coming into ports and airports on mainland Britain.

“Something from Wexford if it went out through Rosslare it would pay a tariff (but) if it drove up through Northern Ireland it could find its way on to mainland UK without paying a tariff,” Mr Healy said.

He said it would not be long until the “penny dropped” for farmers who would begin using Northern Ireland to access Britain.

Mr Healy also weighed into the debate over the photograph he appeared in alongside EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and president of the French farmers union Christiane Lambert before the Ireland versus France Six Nations Rugby match in Dublin.

Fianna Fáil Brexit spokesperson Lisa Chamber criticised the “strident walk” of those pictured and said the photograph was “choreographed”.

Mr Healy insisted he was there to speak to Mr Barnier about the threat facing farmers as Brexit talks remained deadlocked.

“We can meet the Taoiseach or the Tanaiste at any time, on that walk I was more interested in talking to Michel Barnier,” he said.

Mr Healy also joked: “if you saw the clouds filling over head (that day) it is running you’d be.”

“We didn’t run and paid the price for not running because we got absolutely saturate,” he added.