Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

In spite of my warnings not to canvass my home in Cavan, some aspirant councillors nevertheless chose to ignore my warnings. I was genuinely sorry to have missed Brian McKeown and Des Cullen. Des is a good lad and his mother unfortunately has MS.

Other candidates put in “material” which should really be submitted to a comedy contest. For example, I quote from the Fianna Fail document. In the section headed “Disability Services” we read:

“Fianna Fail is committed to improving services to make them more accessible for people with a disability, including physical access to buildings, health services, public transport, training and employment” – how sweet!

There is a pub / restaurant in Cavan town, jointly owned by an outgoing Fianna Fail member of Cavan County Council and a Fianna Fail member of the senate. The restaurant is on the top floor, but as there is no lift, this is inaccessible to people like myself who are confined to a wheel-chair. Now some buildings are old, and those operating restaurants only rent a portion of them; so resources for installing lifts are limited. This particular building received extensive renovations before the opening of the restaurant, but the local planners obviously didn’t insist on a lift. No doubt they, along with the premises’ owners, consider that “cripples” are too poor to patronise the restaurant – and certainly the political party to which they belong is determined to make them even poorer. I recall a story about a shop-keeper in the American “Deep South” who was subjected to insults because he allowed “niggers” into his premises. He responded: “The colour of their skin may be black, but their dollar bills are as green as the next man’s”.

As for their commitment to improving employment possibilities for the disabled, it is the same as that of Fine Gael – it goes no further than making sure that any of their family who are disabled have nice jobs.

I know that once the election has passed the masks will slip. Instead of being nice and courteous as they seek my vote they will resort to being as hostile and indifferent as in the past. Perhaps they may be even more hostile, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not threatened with vexatious legal action by some of these scoundrels.