Thursday 21 May
Answering all the questions!
As the big day approaches more and more media opportunities are popping up. The last couple of days have been crazy. First up on Monday night I was in Dublin for the Vincent Browne show on TV3 and then on Wednesday the Pat Kenny show was in Cork to do a programme with all the candidates in Munster.
Now, we all know what the big issues of the day are: jobs, jobs and jobs!
I am left asking myself then why Vincent Browne wanted to spend the whole interview picking seemingly random tragic events from the conflict in the north and asking me about my feelings on certain events from the seventies or eighties. This is 2009 and we are in a deep recession caused in no small part by the failed policies of our own successive governments and the European Union's flawed economic policies and the only thing he can ask me as an EU candidate is about events long ago that not one person has asked me about throughout my whole campaign!
On Wednesday it was the Pat Kenny show along with almost all of the other EU candidates in the "South" constituency. To be fairer this was a broader interview but once again Kenny seemed fixated on a bizarre line of questioning. This time it was about Mary Lou McDonald's absence from the European Parliament during her maternity leave! How dare a woman spend time with her children instead of trooping off to the European Parliament?!
Not that I am the only one being asked odd questions. Each of the candidates at the Pat Kenny event was asked almost random questions. What did the two Fine Gael candidates think of each other? Where are your substitutes from? Can you guarantee you won't run in the general election? I am beginning to wonder if this is a European election at all!
I'd love to see debates focussing on the real issues and the genuine concerns of people as we get closer to the election. Maybe the journalists need to spend some time canvassing!
Meanwhile back in the real world, the work continues and the campaigning hots up...