Upton travels back to her West Clare roots

RETIRING Dublin South Central Labour TD Mary Upton returned to her childhood roots in West Clare recently. Sister of the late TD Pat Upton, she accompanied Clare Labour General Election candidate Michael McNamara on a canvass in the West of the county.

Ms Upton’s father was creamery manager in Derrylough, Killimer in the 1940s and she was educated at Knockerra National School before enrolling at Coláiste Muire, Ennis.
“We started from Lissycasey, Kilmihil, Kilrush through to Kilkee. It was just one day but the feedback was quite positive. It was very early days and it was just as the campaign was getting underway,” Ms Upton told The Clare Champion on Wednesday.
She said that while not everyone they met on the canvass recognised Mr McNamara, most potential voters had heard of him.
“What they were aware of was that he had run as an MEP and that he had done very well in Clare in that election. In fairness, of course, there were other people who didn’t know him but who recognised a good candidate, without necessarily putting his name with it.
“What we did on the day, I hope, was to imprint his name and I think that worked reasonably well,” Ms Upton added.
She said that people talked to them once they realised that they weren’t seeking votes for Fianna Fáil.
“What we found on the doorsteps was a lot of hostility to Fianna Fáil. ‘Anybody but Fianna Fáil’ was the first response but when you talked to them they were very willing to listen to the Labour message, I found. The key message that was coming out was clearly around jobs and the economy. Quite a number of people that we met, either themselves or a member of their family had lost their jobs and there seemed to be very little done for them,” Ms Upton said.
She recalls a time when the Labour Party was very active in Kilrush.
“The town of Kilrush at one stage had a very strong Labour branch in it. Like a lot of other areas, I think that folded a little bit when times got really good. I suppose there was no perception for the need for it and people drifted away. I just felt when I was down there two weeks ago there was a renewed interest around the need for the core values of the Labour Party,” she concluded.
Ms Upton is unlikely to join Mr McNamara on a repeat canvass as she is working on her nephew, Henry Upton’s election campaign in Dublin.