Canvassing The Countryside - Tipp Tour Begins
Posted by Alan Kelly on April 28, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Canvassing the Countryside: Tipp Tour Begins Most European Candidates do not believe in doing too much canvassing in rural areas. The logic is that you don’t get to meet a sufficient volume of people to justify a visit to small village such as Cappawhite, Rear Cross or Portroe (my home village)
The Alan Kelly cavalcade of cars, jeeps, the ‘Tipp-mobile’ and the music out the speakers managed to cause a bit of a stir in each place. However there is a huge gain, I believe, in getting feedback from rural communities.
These are places that do not get a huge amount of media attention but the fabric of these places is changing dramatically whether it’s through closing pubs and post-offices, young people leaving the land or finding they are even further away from their local hospitals because of HSE changes.
I believe you only truly understand the needs of rural communities by spending time in them. Our public policy and even media focus has been very much driven by urban thinking in the last few years. I consider myself extremely lucky to have grown up in a tight-knit rural community where everyone knew everyone and you always felt safe. Rural Ireland is in my DNA and my ambition is to become an advocate for services in rural areas.
We'll let the other candidates have the cities for now. The Alan Kelly Tipp Tour rolls on.
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