“The kettle is the best-used tool in the place,” says Matt Molloy, as he puts it on, and passes a plate of buns around Ramsgrange Men’s Shed.
Eight men from the south Wexford area meet here twice a week, for a cup of tea, a chat, and some woodworking. “Great craic and great banter, and a lot of work for the community” is the normal order of business, says Molloy. Politics is not.
But with every lamp post in the village adorned with posters – many featuring the controversial former Fine Gael byelection candidate, Verona Murphy, who grew up in a house just down the street – there is no escaping the fact that there's an election on.
In the shed, the talk focuses on what might prove the decisive issues, rather than the candidates. These include the rollout of broadband, the Rosslare rail line, crime and rural isolation. But, here as elsewhere, “there’s only the one [issue] that really concerns me and a lot of people, and that’s health,” says Molloy.
Tom Connery agrees. “When you get to the age of men’s shed members, health becomes a very big issue. If I got sick in the morning, what’s going to happen to me?”
Giese had to retire from his job in the HSE at 65, but couldn't access his pension until 66
Everyone seems to have a health horror story, and Michael Giese’s is typical. His wife recently had to wait 2½ years for an appointment with a consultant for an issue with her back, and spent much of that time in pain.
The same condition would have been taken care of in about four weeks in Germany, where they are originally from, he says. “You would have [a specialist] appointment in a week. If they had to do something in hospital, you would have this appointment in three weeks.”
He recalls a conversation with his doctor in Germany before he moved to Ireland in 2007. “He said, ‘You’re moving to Ireland? God help you. I hope you never get sick over there’. He had worked here.”
Come February 8th, will they hold the Government responsible for the issues in the health service? That’s less certain. “I suppose it’s like a manager of a [football] team,” says Molloy. “If something goes wrong and they miss a goal, the manager is going to be got at, so why not the Government?”
“Nine years this crowd have been in,” says Ray Shannon. “And they’re throwing money and throwing money [at health], and the private consultants are doing very well, but it’s not improving the services for the general public.”
As the fella says, a change is as good as a rest
Pensions – which took some politicians and commentators by surprise when it emerged as an issue over the past two weeks – is another pressing concern for members of the shed. Giese had to retire from his job in the HSE at 65, but couldn’t access his pension until 66.
The biggest frustration for him personally wasn’t that he wanted his pension earlier, but that he would have liked to work longer. “I’m 70 this year, and I’m still fit as a fiddle. I could be working away, but I’m not allowed to. It’s not right.”
Shannon worries about what he perceives as a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in Irish society. The Government says the economy is growing, but he doesn’t see it filtering down “to the people living in hotels . . . The wealthy are getting wealthier all the time”. And people on social welfare and State pensions “are only just struggling by”.
Knife crime
Crime is the main issue troubling the chairman of Ramsgrange Men’s Shed, Michael Smith. A former member of the London Metropolitan Police Service, he was awarded an MBE from the Queen for his work fighting knife crime before he moved to Wexford for a quiet retirement.
Now he is worried about drug-fuelled violent crime in the country. “While people might turn a blind eye to middle-class drug use and abuse, it’s an area that needs to be addressed seriously and tackled fiercely, because if it’s not, we’re going to see the country go on a downward spiral.”
He hasn’t yet made up his mind how to vote, but “I’ll be looking at what the candidates are saying about what they propose to do about knife crime and whether they support the guards”.
Smith will also be looking at the mental health policies of individual parties. “If our politicians are not addressing those issues seriously, instead of just words, they won’t be getting my vote.”
The desire for a change of government, as captured in polling in recent days, is in evidence here – even if there’s no real consensus on what that change might look like. “Who else would you put in? I don’t see anybody else there coming up at me,” says Shannon.
He will probably vote for a strong local candidate, he concludes. “I think Verona is a bright young woman. I think she put her foot in it,” with her remarks about immigration during the byelection last year. “I don’t disagree with what she said, I just disagree with the way she said it. She’s someone that I think would be worth giving a chance to.”
Molloy is still making up his mind, but he’s hoping for a change to the status quo. “As the fella says, a change is as good as a rest.”
