Politician fixate on trivialities these days - water taxes, property taxes, bank debt. But it wasn't always so. Back in the benighted 1980s, there was a Cork politician, who, rather in the manner of De Valera, only had to look into his own soul to establish what his people wanted.
Leading into the 1987 general election, while everyone else was obsessed with health cuts, Bernie Murphy unveiled a sensible programme which sought to grapple with one of the major injustices of Irish life.
No. 9 the best election promise ever? pic.twitter.com/Fct3CAEIsT
— Electionlit (@electionlit) November 5, 2014
Now, one would have thought that policy no.9 was his trump card but for some reason the electorate decided not to seize this chance.
For some reason, the people of Cork decided not to endorse this programme and the chance of a lifetime was missed. Most sophisticated electorate in the world my hole.
Perhaps unwisely, Bernie opted to run in both Cork North-Central and Cork South-Central, claiming 684 votes north of the water and 441 to the south. How close he came to pushing this through, though.
After all, in the wake of the 1987 election, Fianna Fail formed a minority government with the help of of a few independents. We know Charlie Haughey would have given these guys whatever they wanted so long as they put him in power. That could have been Bernie.
Of course, it should be added that the Dubs did play one All-Ireland semi-final outside of Croke Park in the 1980s. Down in Pairc ui Chaoimh against Cork in 1983. Maybe it was the memory of that game which persuaded the people of Cork not to send Bernie Murphy all the way to Leinster House.
H-T: John Fogarty
