Nervous times for SDLP as Sinn Fein closes in

Nervous times for SDLP as Sinn Fein closes in

8 March 2017

COLIN McGrath gets more nervous than most during election counts and it was no different at the Lisburn Leisureplex last Friday.

The SDLP man paced nervously around the count floor and from the media gallery overlooking election tellers, candidates and party supporters, the Downpatrick man could be seen puffing his cheeks as he took several deep breaths as he waited for the final result.

He knew Alliance’s Patrick Brown was pushing him hard for the vital fifth seat and despite their political differences, the two candidates stopped for several friendly chats on the floor of the count centre as the race for the seat hotted up.

Mr McGrath was trying to keep himself busy and as the count progressed and the Alliance challenge faded, he afforded himself one more deep breath before a wide smile broke out and he was embraced by party officials before making his way upstairs to a room set aside for the formal declaration of the successful candidates.

He went into the Assembly poll having just lost his brother and digesting the confirmation that he would be returning to Stormont, Mr McGrath said the election took place under “playground fighting rules which forced people to the extremes of Northern Ireland politics.”

He continued: “This was a difficult campaign for the SDLP. I lost my brother on the first day of the campaign and my running mate Sinead Bradley lost her father PJ on the last day of it. We have had a lot to deal with but we kept going, kept smiling and kept going to the doors. We have returned two people and the message we got on the doorstep was quite clear. People want action, they want Stormont doing something for them and acting on their behalf.

“People said they were tired of arrogance and ignorance and I think we can see in the overall election result that there were some votes lent out and some given to ensue that a certain person (DUP leader Arlene Foster) learns a very important lesson. I hope this message gets through and we can all make our way back up the hill and start working for the people of Northern Ireland because that is what they deserve most.”

Mr McGrath said his party had suffered a small decrease in its vote but had managed to return 12 MLAs to Stormont, suggesting some SDLP voters had backed Sinn Fein as part of a protest against the DUP leader.

“People were bitterly angry,” he said. “God-fearing churchwomen in Downpatrick were telling me ‘that woman needs to be removed’ and when you get that type of sentiment and that type of call to action then people follow through. I don’t expect this to be the same result for my party next time around.”

Mr McGrath added: “The fight for the fifth seat was probably closer than I imagined. When I think back to my time as a councillor I just about scrapped home in the 2005 election and then topped the poll in Downpatrick in 2011 after having six years to establish myself between these two elections.

“I was elected to the Assembly last May and three of those months was spent working my notice at my old job, then we had one month’s holiday and then Christmas and then this election. 

“I had about three months to establish myself in an area that does not know me, in particular, Newcastle and Castlewellan. If we manage to get a couple of years out of this new Assembly, people in these areas will know exactly who I am. People expect a deal to be done too at Stormont and will feel short-changed if there isn’t one.”