Fianna Fáil TD Ned O'Keeffe was out early canvassing farmers before the IFA decision was announced, writes Barry Rochein Fermoy
"ALL TO one side like the town of Fermoy" may be a familiar saying throughout Cork, but Fermoy was far from one-sided yesterday when Fianna Fáil TD Ned O'Keeffe visited the local mart to canvass farmers on the Lisbon Treaty.
Undaunted by the fact that the IFA had still to issue its advice to farmers, O'Keeffe, flanked by his son Cllr Kevin O'Keeffe, marshalled his team of Fianna Fáil cumann members and set off through the less-than-fragrant air of Fermoy mart.
"A good day for canvassing," quipped the pinstripe-suited Mitchelstown TD with a mischievous grin as he stretched out his hand to Tom Mulcahy from Bartlemy.
"You'll vote Yes?" he inquired of Tom.
"I'll vote Yes if you fix the potholes on my boreen at Boreenlassa," shot back Tom. "In fact to call it a boreen would be wrong given there's so little tar left on it at this stage."
"Leave the potholes to me and vote Yes!" said O'Keeffe with a wink, confident that, with his ability to mend roads, he had a Yes vote in the bag as he moved on to round up more Yes men.
A pattern quickly emerged, with most farmers somewhat sceptical and O'Keeffe playing what might be called the "Robert Emmet Card" where Ireland, in the person of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, would take its rightful place among the nations of the, er, EU.
"You want more control? The way to keep control is to vote Yes and put Brian Cowen in there with Merkel and Sarkozy - the way to get what we want is to be a full member of the European Union - not half in, half out like Britain," said the TD.
With some it worked, but others such as John O'Mahony from Fermoy remained unconvinced as he proceeded to take O'Keeffe to task over the prospect of the Mandelson proposals being accepted and Irish farmers having to contend with cheap Brazilian beef.
But all politics is local - even the Lisbon Treaty - as the deputy was reminded again when Robert Northridge from Glencairn, Lismore asked him about removing a bad bend on a local road.
"I'll vote Yes if you fix the bend for me - I know you can't do it today but will you do it?"
"I will and be sure to vote Yes," said Ned, and he was off again.