European issues on the banks of Lough Ree

By Mark Little

I’ve come to the end of another day on the Shannon, searching for the issues that will decide the outcome of these Euro elections.

I still have a chill in my bones after a spin on the choppy waters of Lough Ree with out-of-work eel fisherman Seamus Mulvihill. For thirty years, he’s been pullings eels from the waters around Coosan Point, just north of Athlone, but that career came to a sudden end in the last fortnight.

The Government has just banned eel fishing, citing an EU directive. It’s a decision the fishermen say will lead to the loss of 500 jobs, some permanent, some part-time. ‘They just turned their backs on us,’ Seamus says, ‘and thought we’d go away.’ But these men are not going away. They have become a loud, active and very angry presence on the European election trail, especially in the north-west constituency. ‘They’re going to hear about us on polling day,’ Seamus promises.

Eel fishing may not change the course of European democracy but it is a great example of one those curious hybrid issues – a little bit European and a lot local – that are helping to shape the political landscape of these Euro elections.

I walked through Athlone town on Wednesday afternoon with Independent MEP Marian Harkin as she fielded questions from citizens about everything from transport for the elderly to the perilous state of the newspaper industry. Harkin explained that many issues which seem remarkably parochial actually have a European dimension. Perhaps there are EU infrastructure funds which could help provide that transport service for the elderly. Brussels might just have a retraining fund with scope to help unemployed workers in Athlone.  And perhaps those eel fisherman will get a hearing before the Appeals Committee of the Parliament.

These hybrid issues –local concerns with a European dimension – extend into a whole range of areas, particularly farming and fisheries and infrastructure, touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of voters. Politicians ignore these issues at their peril, and so do pundits making predictions. Eel fishermen may not matter much among the chattering classes back in Dublin but I can tell you they matter among the candidates looking for votes by the banks of the Shannon.