"I'll lose up to a stone and a half on the campaign," the Fine Gael candidate working to be re-elected to Kildare County Council says. It's a shoe-leather thing, walking the estates and giving the electorate a chance to actually talk to a councillor or a candidate to be one. "I've always said that politics is a contact sport. The only way to get people to support you is to meet them face to face. Look them in the eye and tell them what you're about."You can have all the internet campaigns you like, all the posters — which I think are a total waste of time anyhow — and all the leaflet drops, but this is the only way. Or have people who know me recommend me to their friends."
Darren Scully does have a Kilcullen connection. He went to school at CPC, which seems to be a College that turns out local and national politicians while not having any political ethos itself. But he has no political background, and says he originally got involved out of frustration. "I saw a lot of politicians who were themselves turning into civil servants. I have beliefs and ideologies, and I wanted to make a difference in my area, in my county. And I felt that I could do a much better job than people who were in politics at the time."
Doing it better can mean different things, but in Darren Scully's case it was sometimes being more vocal than some. Getting stuck in to lobbying officials to get things done for his area. Doing the best he could to push through 'a hundred reasons to say no rather than one reason to say yes' attitudes. "One of the things I found out about the public service when I was first elected was that if we had the same kind of systems in the private sector, we'd go broke very quickly."
He doesn't sit on the fence, believing that a politician who is all things to all men is 'about as useful as a chocolate fireguard'. "You can't achieve anything if you're trying to appease somebody, because life isn't like that. I know there are people who can't stand the sight of me and my opinions, but that's fine, that's politics. I never was after all the votes, I have my views and my opinions about the way things should be done."
He's ten years in the political business now, operating alongside his day job as a surveyor in the insurance industry for most of that time, and most recently while running his own business. "I've always said I'm not a career politician, and I never will be. But I'll keep on doing it while I'm enjoying it. You have to, in the pit of your stomach, really want to be doing this when people are ringing you up late at night and at weekends, but there's no better feeling in the world for me personally when you meet somebody who has a problem and you can help them."
Since first elected to Naas Town Council in 2004, and to Kildare County Council in 2009, Darren Scully has experienced the differences between working with small and large local authorities. He admits that the Town Council was nicer, probably because it was smaller and easier to get things done. But the new system of the Municipal Area is going to be an even bigger change.
"I don't think many people realise it yet, but the working week for the councillor is going to be much more intensive. There will be more coming down the track to deal with. Councillors are getting more powers, including a direct say in the budgets and the right to vote against candidates for the new position of chief executive that will replace the county manager system. But with those extra powers comes more responsibility."
The responsibility of the new chief executive changes too. Instead of the manager being accountable to the Department of the Environment, the CE will be accountable to the Council, effectively the 'board' of the county. "Along with bringing the work of the former County Enterprise Boards directly into the Council, working out of Arus Chill Dara, I think the citizens of the county are going to see better customer service, questions and answers will all travel through the same channel."
Darren Scully acknowledges that there's a very strong cynicism about politics out there, and he understands the reasons why that might be so. But after a decade on the inside, he's still positive about it. "I think most people in politics are in it for the right reasons, their hearts are in the right place, they want to serve their community and help out, and they want to make a difference.
"And for those who complain about it when you knock on their doors, I believe that democracy is the best system we have. Unless you want what's happening in the Ukraine, or communism or dictatorship, it's the best we've got. And the people have the ultimate power to change things through the ballot box."
Kilcullen being moved back to the new Naas Municipal Area, he firmly believes will be good for the town. "I never saw the reason in Kilcullen and Ballymore being lost to the Athy area, it makes more sense both geographically and economically to have them part of Naas. I think it is going to benefit Kilcullen greatly in being back. Even purely on a population basis, where the revenue stream from the property tax is going to be much greater."
That's another area where the local government reforms are going to have an impact. With some 85 percent of the tax being ring-fenced from 2016 to go back to the area it was collected, and constitute a significant portion of a Council's budget, councillors are going to have to be very professional about managing the 'enterprise' that the county is.
"I do think that the new system will give more equality of representation. I think it's going to encourage better use of taxpayers' money. It's going to take time to bed in, but I think that whoever is elected, if they drive on hard and push it, hold officials to account, it should benefit everybody."
Kilcullen voters who want to put Darren Scully in their lists won't really get the chance to meet him directly. As part of the strategy he and his three fellow FG candidates are operating, he'll leave the Kilcullen canvassing to Billy Hillis, who is better known in the area. "It's all about our team, not about the individuals, and I think we have the geographically best placed team to maximise our return."
But if you really want to look him in the eye and ask him what he stands for, you could catch him most Saturday mid-mornings when he comes to Nolans in Kilcullen for his meat.
Guess it was hard to break all his associations with the town when he graduated from CPC ...
No comments:
Post a Comment