WATCH: Sunshine and smiles for Tánaiste's Douglas canvass

IT might have been the glorious bank holiday weekend sunshine, or it might just have been that Micheál was canvassing in the heart of Martin Country, but there was an almost universal welcome for the Tánaiste and his European and local candidates in Douglas on Saturday morning.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was on the campaign trail with Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher and local candidates Mary Rose Desmond and David Boyle, and even though politicians like to bring journalists along on canvasses that are likely be positive experiences, this was a particularly sunny affair with few unhappy interactions.

They were clearly on home ground - next year marks Mr Martin's 40th anniversary as a public representative here - with the four politicians between them seeming to know everyone they met, and everyone appeared to be in good humour and happy to see them.

It may have had something to do with the venue, but the hot-button issue of immigration never came up, although housing did.

Starting in the Douglas Village shopping centre just after 11am, the first stop was the Boston Barbers, where Mr Martin gamely hopped into the barber’s chair to pretend have his hair cut, while Mary Hayes, who works there, pretended to throttle him. Maybe you’d have had to have been there.

The conversation turned more serious, though, when Ms Hayes, a council tenant in Knocknaheeny, told the Tánaiste she has been on the transfer list for two decades and is desperate to move.

“I never met the man before, but he immediately promised to help me, and he seems alright,” she told The Echo afterward. “Sure I’ll take him at his word until he lets me down. I’ll let ye know how I get on.” 

Further up the shopping centre, Micheál and Billy posed for a selfie with Nora McSweeney and Alicia Moore, who are both 12. “First thing they said to me was ‘We’re Douglas and not Nemo’,” an amused – or possibly affronted - Tánaiste confided.

In Quigley’s Café, Phil Goodman, who founded the charity Young At Heart Douglas, was having a cuppa with her friend Kay. “I know them years. Micheál and Billy are very nice men, they’re nice human beings,” Ms Goodman said.

Over in the Douglas Court shopping centre, one man politely told Mr Kelleher he wouldn’t be voting for him. When the candidate asked why not, he was told “You have your answer, and we’ll leave it at that.” It was all very civilised.

Another man, an older Fine Gael voter, said Mr Kelleher was getting “a solid Number Three and that’s it. John Mullins is getting the Number One, then Seán (Kelly) and then Billy.” A vote is a vote, even if it’s a third preference, and few politicians would turn that down.

Billy Kelleher was first elected to Europe last time out and is at 18%, according to an Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll in mid-May, but he said he’s taking nothing for granted.

“Look, I’ll keep canvassing right until the close of polls, that’s what I’ve always done as a public representative since 1992; you have to ask for the vote if you expect to get it, and that’s what we’re doing.” 

Mr Martin said he was happy with the morning’s canvass, adding that it’s usually a good sign if people want to engage with candidates. “The key will be on polling day, that people come out to vote, and that we harness that vote. Early in campaigns, the awareness isn’t as strong … but it’s in the last four days in recent elections that there can be a change, an intensity comes into it.” 

With Sinn Féin support slumping in recent opinion polls, and independents surging ahead of the three larger parties, Fianna Fáil still remains becalmed in the high teens, behind its two rivals.

For all of that, Mary Rose Desmond, councillor in Cork City South Central, said she had been finding the experience on the doors to be very positive. “I’ve enjoyed it, and to be fair, people are very engaged on the local issues, and I think they can see the work we have done, and I have done, on the ground.” 

For much of the morning, the Tánaiste appeared concerned that his Ireland South candidate was lagging behind, asking “Where’s Billy?” as Mr Kelleher repeatedly got held up chatting to people, but that was reversed at one point when it was Billy’s turn to look for his boss. He soon found him, standing transfixed in the confectionary aisle in Dunnes Stores.

“Look at all the cakes,” marvelled Micheál.

“I thought you don’t eat cakes,” Billy said to his famously abstemious party leader.

The reply was very Cork: “I can look, can’t I?” 

It was obvious throughout the morning that Mr Kelleher is very comfortable on the campaign trail, meeting and greeting voters and staying for a chat, but if Billy likes canvassing, his boss absolutely loves it, clearly thriving on the interaction.

“I do, I love it, yeah,” Mr Martin told The Echo with a laugh. “Look, politics is about engagement with people, and you have to listen as well.”

Finishing their canvass, it was on to the match in Páirc Uí Rinn, where Cork would later beat Donegal 3-9 to 16 points. No doubt the Tánaiste would consider it a good day’s work all around.

A full list of Ireland's MEP candidates can be found at https://www.europeanmovement.ie/european-elections-2024/.