ON THE CANVASS WITH JOE HIGGINS:Higgins is seen by the public as earnest, honest and totally incorruptible
JOE HIGGINS is standing on the pavement outside the GPO as pedestrians hurry past him.
He extends his hands like a preacher and looks into the middle distance down O’Connell Street.
“It takes a little while for one’s aura to penetrate,” he declares, his fingertips wiggling, as if he’s sending vibes out to the cosmos.
It is a little before 5pm. Joe has been running a bit late and has just arrived. It’s another day chock-full of press conferences, media appearances and public debates.
Now he is standing on a stall set up by left-wing groups urging people to vote against the Lisbon Treaty.
In his hand is the Socialist Party pamphlet with its exhortation to defend workers’ rights and say No to Lisbon’s “race to the bottom”.
Higgins explains his approach. His style is to be patient, allow them to come to you, before you hook them. All that’s missing is a rod and reel.
“You have to be on the street for a while for it to work. It takes at least 15 minutes. I’m serious,” he says.
The aura – though said self-deprecatingly – is real enough. Despite Declan Ganley reappearing magically like Bobby Ewing late in the hustings, it is arguably Higgins who has been the main face, and voice, of the No campaign.
There is no grandstanding. He stands there with a leaflet in his hand. He is the very picture of utilitarianism with short-cropped hair, his neat functional clothing, his solemn and unassuming manner.
In the late 1960s, a person working in TV came across a sheet of paper that had been mislaid by David Frost. It contained a long, hand-written lists of ad libs for every occasion. That’s a little like Higgins.
He is a genius for the witty aside and memorable phrase. But those masterpieces are delivered after hours of chiselling and polishing. In person, his disposition is far more serious and in no way spontaneous.
People clearly like him, including those who don’t agree with his ideology. He is seen as earnest, honest and totally incorruptible.
And without saying anything, people wander up to him.
“Howya Joe, don’t worry. I’ll be voting No,” shouts one man.
“I don’t like to be told that my vote wasn’t good enough last time.”
“Joe, Joe, give us your reasons?” says an older man, who is up from the country.
“There are very serious reasons,” says Joe, before delivering the stump speech of the canvass. “The Lisbon Treaty is in the interest of big corporations, of militarisation and of the armaments industry. We are going to lose our veto in health and education. They will be opened up to privatisation pressures.”
“So why are they the big parties in favour?” asks the man.
“Because they are the establishment and they are all doing it in the interests of capitalism,” he replies.
After a little while, it’s decided it would be better to go around the corner to Henry Street, where more hits can be achieved in its torrents of human traffic. As we walk to his new spot, Higgins still sounds chipper about the prospects of the campaign even though he claims the media have been hugely biased against it.
“Despite the money that has been poured in, people are still holding their own. Many who spurned the Yes campaign last year will do so again,” he predicts.
Once in the new spot, the aura is helped immensely when Balbriggan town councillor Terry Kelleher produces a megaphone.
The message blares out: “Do not follow the argument that the Lisbon Treaty will mean more jobs. It will not save your job. It will not save your house. Socialist MEP Joe Higgins is here to tell you why to vote No to Lisbon.”
Kelleher’s megaphone diplomacy is working wonders. They are coming up to Higgins thick and fast now. A guy carrying a hurley pats him on the back.
A young German man wearing a fisherman’s cap tell him that he hopes that Ireland will say No.
A man in his 30s with a smig beard and a hoop earring pumps his hand, and makes disparaging remarks about the shower in government.
But the aura is not omnipotent. A woman Sarah, wheeling her young son in a pram, stops to engage on some of the issues. Obviously well-informed, she talks about the sense among people that the Government is bullying them into voting Yes.
“And tell me,” she addresses Joe Higgins. “Can I ask you why Joe Higgins is supporting the No vote?”
Joe Higgins hesitates for an instant at being referred to in the third person singular. Nonetheless, he begins his spiel on big business, militarisation, the elite etc.
As he is speaking, it begins to dawn on the young woman that the picture on the pamphlet bears more than a passing resemblance to the man to whom she is speaking.
“You are not Joe Higgins, are you?” she queries.
“I am Joe Higgins,” he confirms.
“Oh God,” she exclaims in embarrassment. “You look so different from the interviews on television. I am sorry, Joe.”
He doesn’t mind. Undeterred, he patiently explains all that is wrong, in his view, with the treaty.
As the encounter draws to a close, The Irish Times inquires how he compares in the flesh with his television image.
“He’s much better looking in real life. He’s a handsome devil,” she responds warmly as she walks away.
Something then occurs that is remarkable – almost revolutionary.
Joe Higgins blushes and a wide smile creases his face.
“It’s nice to get a little ray of encouragement,” he mutters.
Don’t fight it, Joe. It’s the aura.
